


The Last Reset

by RainingJewel



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Depression, Friendship/Love, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, References to Depression, Self-Insert, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24459226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainingJewel/pseuds/RainingJewel
Summary: For countless Resets, Sans has repeated the same song and dance in the Judgement Hall. No matter how many times Frisk Resets, it's always the same. This time, he won. He waited for the inevitable Reset, either Frisk would appear before him, or he would awaken back in Snowdin.But it never came.Meanwhile, a human decides to visit the cursed mountain to end her suffering.
Relationships: Sans (Undertale)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a vent piece to help me deal with my depression. I'm sharing because others thought it was good and I'm still working on it.  
> Self-harm, depression, suicidal thoughts, and tendencies are a theme but so is the path the characters take to overcome them.  
> The main character is a self-insert representation of myself. She is also a version of another character I have used that is vastly different. Disclaimers have been made.

The sound of birds singing echoed through the vehicle as the sun peaked over the horizon, slowly moving its light directly in the eyes of the woman sleeping in the back. Seats stored away in the minivan, car seats and boosters shoved back against the hatch door. A pillow was under her head, a sleeping bag around her as she fought against the rising sun’s light. However, it was no use. She sighed and groaned, a hand running through her messy brown locks. Steel-blue eyes slowly opened as she let out a yawn, a high pitched whine escaping as her tongue curled in her mouth.

_Wake in a sweat again_

_Another day’s been laid to waste_

_In my disgrace_

_Stuck in my head aga—_

She quickly hit the side button on her phone, groaning.

“Damn it, quit trying to read my mood, damn phone…” she muttered, slowly sitting up.

Of course, she just had to wake up before her alarm. She rubbed her tired eyes sleepily as she grabbed her phone to shut off the snooze she initiated. Six in the morning… she sighed and leaned against the side door. She supposed she should get an early start… she had a lot of driving to do if she was going to make it to Mt. Ebott…

How long had she been driving, she wondered? Her windows were down, wind her hair, music blaring on from her phone through the speakers… her short hair whipped around her face, blinding her some of the time… not that she really minded… a crash wouldn’t be the worst way to go… After all, why else would she be going to Mt. Ebott? The mountain that was completely cut off from the world… one of the few “cursed” locations left that people still believed in… After all, no one could deny the fact that whoever went up the mountain never came back. Not that they were never found, only a handful never were, presumed to have fallen in crevasses or crushed beneath rocks. Or as the locals so eloquently put it… had their souls devoured by the monsters that lived beneath the mountain.

There were too many pit stops for her liking. But nature didn’t wait for anyone… and thank god she stole her dad’s trucker cards. It got her some free showers at the stops. Laundry, however, was expensive, of course. But what was she to do? It wasn’t like she could grab a lot on her way out… she only had a few sets of clothes… and it wasn’t like she was making money while on the road… so she had to make these last… she was surprised she even cared, but… well, it was still a few days of travel, she might as well be comfortable in her own skin, she supposed…

Finally, she made it. A fortnight of driving, doing nothing but staring at asphalt and pavement, eating while driving, stopping only for bathroom breaks and sleep, and the occasional batch of laundry… She parked her car in a free lot. She left the majority of her things in her vehicle. However, she wasn’t going empty-handed.

Steel-blue eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, her long bob style brunette hair curling lazily at the ends, rubbing against her jaw and neck. Sneakers, jeans and a long-sleeve purple shirt, hardly mountain climbing material, she thought to herself, but it wasn’t as if she was a mountain girl. No, her entire life she lived in the suburbs. She was a city girl. This was going to be hell, she knew… but it would be worth it. Not like she would ever be found after this, right? That was the whole point of the mountain. This was as good as any outfit to die in…

The first part was trying to get past the barbed wire. She used satellite images and street views to try and figure out a way to get around the barricades, the locked fences… she had a few ideas… but she had to get there. She took a bus to get across town, getting as close as the line would take her before continuing on foot. Before continuing, however… well, death row inmates got a last meal request, right?

Her favorite meal, chicken parmesan… one last time… she found a place. It wasn’t quite what she wanted… then again she had never found anything quite like what made her fall in love with the dish to begin with… she hadn’t been able to replicate the recipe… it wasn’t bad, it was pretty good, just… not what she was hoping. She finished it off with a piece of cake before heading out. As she walked further toward the mountain… she realized just how much she was going to miss pasta… but pasta alone wasn’t enough to keep her going…

The mountain’s base itself did have a few guards around, mostly to keep daring teens and people like her away… but it wasn’t hard to actually slip past with a little cunning. She wasn’t quite agile enough to climb a tree anymore… however, cutting a wire or two to pull the fence back, well… that was easy. She slipped on some tear-resistant gloves and snipped some wires at the bottom of the fence. She pulled it back and slipped under, using the gloves to twist the wire back, partially, so it didn’t seem out of place unless you really looked, and no one would. Not down there, not by the post. Even if they did, it would be too late…

The mountain itself wasn’t too hard to scale at first, there were paths and easily climbable faces that kept her going at a steady pace. She would have to stop and rest at points, but she was determined to keep going. Sooner or later she’d find a spot, right? Either she’d fall, or something would fall and crush her… or hell, maybe a monster would show up. That’d be fitting.

The higher she got, the more her body ached, the more it screamed for her to stop… Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea… She heaved herself on a spot that overlooked a lot of the scenery… there was a great view of the sunset… She leaned back on the rock, uncomfortable as it was, it was better than sitting up. She could feel part of her back already growing numb from it all, as well as her arms and hands…

“Well, not gonna be able to do much else at this point,” she muttered softly. “Maybe I should take a nap… traveling at night might make it more perilous…”

As she leaned her head against the rock, debating about just trying to lay down, she caught a glint of sunlight reflecting off of something inside of the rock. Curiosity got the better of her and despite the numbness in her limbs, the pain and fatigue screaming through her body, she started to move closer. Carefully, she crawled to the edge of the ledge she was on, looking down into the rock, noticing that there was actually glass in there. She tilted her head… it was built right into the rock… she started to put her hand down into the hole, going to feel if the rock was stable enough to hold her…

Resistance?

She blinked as she pressed on the air that held her back. She noticed a ripple in the air, but her hand went through it easily, causing a greater ripple, before she pulled her hand back.

“Magic?” she questioned, her voice soft as she didn’t quite believe it herself.

Finding her footing, she slowly moved along the opening of the gap in the rock. She carefully began to work her way around the narrow ledge, looking down. It was quite a drop… and was that… magma at the bottom?

“Well, if the fall doesn’t kill me, that will… not a pleasant way to go…” she shuddered. The thought of burning alive never came to her before… she could only hope if she did fall into that, she wouldn’t feel too much of it before the pain took her… but it’d be over eventually, wouldn’t it?

She tried to take her mind off of it. She tried to focus on her footing. She was a coward, wasn’t she? She came to the mountain to die yet she wasn’t actively trying to either, was she? Was she just hoping something would take control and do it for her? Should she just let herself fall? If nothing else, she could probably aim and hit her head on the way down so she’d be unconscious. Still, her hands shook at the idea… It was one thing to give up, but another to willingly die painfully, right? Was it wrong to just want to slip away into nothing? She could have done that at home… pills, liquor, and suffocation… hanging… why did she drive for a fortnight and come to a supposedly cursed mountain?

She was pulled from her thoughts as she saw a glimpse of a shadow inside of the windows. That was strange, the light was pouring in, causing a glare. How did she…? She focused, intently, then she realized… she was causing a shadow… her back was to the sun, she was causing an unnatural shadow to go into the window… and whoever this was saw her, just like she saw them. It was too far, she couldn’t make out a lot… but she felt like she was being stared at. She felt frozen as she stared at the shadow in the window… did this mean the rumors were true? Were there monsters?

She felt herself grow cold, shivering, despite the summer sun on her back, despite the long sleeves… Something was pulling in her chest… she looked down and saw a heart-shaped object coming out of her chest. She tried to grab it and put it back, but the blue glow around it kept it firm. It didn’t go far out of her, however, as she was suddenly pulled by the heart-shaped object, the blue glow obviously pulling. She lost all sense of voice, fear overriding her ability to scream as she thought she was going to fall into the magma below. However, it wasn’t downward she was moving…

Somehow, against all matter of logic, she was being pulled straight to the glass windows! And it wasn’t at a slow and steady pace! She braced for impact, curling into herself just as she slammed through, the stained glass erupting into shards, flying all around the room she found herself being flung into. She felt herself fall onto shards, fresh stings of cuts all over her face and hands. Some glass pierced through her thin shirt and wedged itself into her arms, her torso, probably her back. But that wasn’t what was important right now. She rolled over from her front to her side, looking up as her sunglasses fell off to see a skeleton clad in blue with a glowing eye, bones hovering over him and ready to strike.

“This is it. This is how I’m going to die,” she thought as she flinched, just looking back down at the ground. She wasn’t about to fight it, but she didn’t need to let him look at her face when he did it.

However, the strike never came…

The skeleton felt his hand began to shake. He was exhausted, he knew fatigue had something to do with it… but more than that… he just messed up. He saw a shadow, he swore it was the kid… trying to sneak up on him, somehow… He was so desperate to end this, that he didn’t… he didn’t even feel the difference. He didn’t feel just how far away her soul was, he didn’t feel how much distance he had made her travel, how fast she had been going through that window… he didn’t feel the size difference. Even with blue magic just the amount of mass he had to move compared to a kid..? But when he had her down, seeing those glasses fall off, it made him realize faster than anything else about her.

She had a black eye… the purplish color surrounding a blue iris… that wasn’t… the kid’s eyes were red, it couldn’t be any more different… that’s when he really started to look at her. She was taller than he was, how did he not see that sooner? Had he been so focused on killing her..?

He took more of this human in… she was obviously an adult, and if he had this much trouble fighting a kid, he was really in trouble now. He should just kill her, take her soul, get what few monsters there were out… But the way she glanced at him before flinching back… he couldn’t bring himself to do it. There wouldn’t be any coming back from this one. This human hadn’t done anything yet, in fact, he was the aggressor this time… after all their soul was…

He thought he had seen something in the color… but now he wasn’t so sure. Looking down at the soul he still held, he realized… there was no color to this soul… It was grey… That wasn’t right… human souls were vibrant, one of seven colors… a grey soul? What… would that even mean?

His hand lowered, the bones fading as he put his shaking left hand back in its pocket, the right never having left. Damn it, what was he going to do now? He pulled her into this mess…

Slowly, steel-blue eyes met with empty sockets, magic snuffed out of them. The two silently stared at one another, the human woman barely moving from her place on the floor. She had felt her soul return to her body, not that she knew what it was, the immediate danger had passed… but whatever this was...

It was not safe.

“heh,” she heard from the skeleton, a sort of awkward half-laugh, half sigh, “guess, i’m _boned_ now, huh?” he tried, looking down at her. When she didn’t respond, he tried again. “guess that was a _weak crack_ huh? Or… maybe you’re just not a _punny_ kind of gal, huh?”

As she continued to stare at him, he felt the guilt and awkwardness in his soul grow. “c’mon, throw me a _bone_ here?” he pleaded. “i know i just… really though? none of these tickle your _funny bone?_ nothing’s _humerus_? guess i’m _flatlining_ pretty hard, huh?”

It shouldn’t surprise him that he couldn’t joke his way out of this one. He did just yank her through a glass window…

The human woman slowly sat up on the floor, looking over the skeleton. The blue she saw was only a jacket… he had a white shirt underneath, black basketball shorts with a white stripe, pink fuzzy slippers that looked like they had been through hell, and… a red scarf wrapped tightly around his neck and shoulders…

More than that, fatigue had really set in on him. His eye sockets looked sunken in, cracks adorned his skull, mostly around his left eye… and the smile he gave her looked fake, though it was more of an effort than she had gotten from many people…

Still… his sudden change in demeanor was… unsettling. He was suddenly trying to be friendly? Forced, but…

“Aren’t you… going to kill me?”

His voice got caught in his throat. He had been hoping for a type of response, but that… It wasn’t filled with fear, which he could work with. Reassure her that it was a mistake, that he didn’t mean it. It wasn’t filled with anger at what he did. It was… empty. Almost… disappointed that he stopped.

“Sans.”

The skeleton tensed as the deep voice almost echoed through the room. He turned, breaking his gaze from the human. She watched his body show the signs of tension, though how she wasn’t sure. He was a skeleton, he didn’t have muscles to tense up, but the body language seemed to be the same, as if he did. She couldn’t help but peer around him a little to see what he was looking at.

A tall, regally dressed white-furred goat monster stood at the end of the hall. He wore a purple cape with golden shoulder guards and a winged adornment on his chest. His face was adorned with golden locks and what appeared to be a thick beard of the same color, in which his white ears got lost in. The horns that adorned his head gave him a more menacing appearance given their large size in comparison with his head.

“king asgore,” the skeleton almost choked, trying to force his anxiety down.

It wasn’t as if he was afraid of the monster before him. He could handle himself in just about anything. But he was still the king, and… he had just messed up. There was a new human and if the thought had crossed his mind…

Just as he thought about it, he noticed Asgore’s gaze shift to the human behind him. He knew it wouldn’t go unnoticed, but he couldn’t stop his body as he shifted to step in front of her, fists clenching in his pockets.

“Sans… what’s going on?” he asked, his voice stern as his eyes narrowed.

“ah, well,” the skeleton sweated.

“think fast, sans,” he screamed at himself internally.

Footfalls snapped him from his nervous trance. If he didn’t think of something quick, this human was definitely going to die!

“just a little… accident,” he quickly started, “she, uh, fell.”

“Through the window?” Asgore’s eyes narrowed.

“w-well… she… cast a shadow,” he lazily motioned to the windows. “i… just reacted,” he admitted softly.

Asgore sighed. Fine, minute details didn’t matter. However, as he moved to inspect the human, he kept finding himself blocked by the smaller monster, until it became impossible as his height countered any form of blockade the skeleton hoped to use.

It wasn’t lost on Asgore, the disheveled appearance of this human. The scent of blood was strong as well, but the fresh cuts made that apparent. Glass was not friendly to any living being, monster or human. But that was just it, he had to put his own kind first… this human was weak, but a human soul was all they needed.

A red trident was summoned in his hand and with downcast eyes, hidden among the shadows created by the setting sun, he raised it up high above his head, aimed right for her.

She didn’t move. She sat there, simply closing her eyes as she accepted that this was it…

“wait!!” the skeleton shouted, teleporting between them, arms out.

Fear and desperation were all that made him move. He didn’t understand why, but the way she had given up didn’t sit well with him. There was nothing left in her. He thought he was empty but even he had a reason to fight, to hold on… maybe…

“Sans, we only need one more soul to get out of here,” Asgore reminded with a low tone, his mind made up.

“but we need her alive!” he protested. “i-i think,” he quickly scrambled for an idea to pop in his head. “i think i can undo all of this!”

“Explain yourself, Sans,” Asgore demanded, but he lowered the trident, instead keeping it at his side. He wasn’t yet sold on this idea, but he was willing to listen.

He had to think quick. Something, anything! “i-it’s just a hypothesis… but i worked under the last royal scientist with alphys, remember? i know what i’m talking about. a human did all of this… maybe… another one can undo it. but i need her cooperation to do it.”

Asgore looked at into the darkened eyes of his judge. He couldn’t deny his former experience, nor could he deny his desire to save his fallen people… but at the risk at who was left? His gaze fell to the human, who hadn’t even bothered to fight against him, hadn’t even said a word since he had appeared.

“And what do you have to say about this?”

Black sockets and chocolate brown eyes that were far too hard for how soft and round they were supposed to be stared down at her. Steel-blue met them both, glancing between the two.

“I have a choice?” she then asked in that deadened tone.

Asgore could feel his soul churn, his brow tightening at the sound. Adult or not…

“Within reason,” he answered. “No matter how you got here,” he cast a glance to his right, Sans avoiding his gaze, “we are all trapped behind a barrier of human design. The only way to break it is with the same power that created it. You would be the seventh soul we need, but it seems there’s a way to… reverse a recent tragedy that has befallen us.”

So the stories weren’t quite exact… but that was to be expected… that was if what she was hearing was the truth… she didn’t know if she could trust either of these monsters… yet… did she really care?

“So… you want me to help with that in exchange for my soul?”

Asgore didn’t like how blunt it was, but that was what it was, wasn’t it? Exactly as she stated… “Yes.”

There was silence from the human as she sat there, her gaze falling to the tiled floor she still sat on. Blood had pooled slightly under parts of her, she could feel it on her back, and some fresh dripping down behind her ear onto her shoulder… she didn’t know how visible it was… nor did she really care at the moment.

“You’re not going to like it out there,” she said softly before looking up at the goat monster, unflinching. “I don’t care if you take my soul. I came to the mountain to die. Because that’s what this place is to humans. The stories are spread far and wide, how monsters will steal and devour your soul if they catch you on their mountain.” She watched the eyes go wide and dark on the two monsters before her, guilt sinking into the goat much more than the skeleton.

“To be fair,” she continued, as her gaze fixed back down at the tile, her voice gaining a soft tone, one of genuine empathy, “most humans don’t take stock in monster stories anymore. They don’t think you’re real. Most just assume those deaths are from rock slides or falling into the many crevasses on the mountain’s face. Probably is the case. There’s definitely more than seven deaths attributed to this mountain.” Her gaze shifted back up to the king, “But the second you announce your existence to the world, there’s going to be a frenzy. Stories are going to circulate. You will be blamed for all of it, even if you didn’t have anything to do with the other deaths. And you won’t be able to discredit any of it unless you admit to killing the seven you need to escape, which will earn you the same hatred.”

Sans trembled, visibly more shaken than Asgore. This was not the kind of news they wanted to hear. Sure, they knew reintegrating was going to be hard, but… to be outright labeled as murders…

“I will take whatever punishments the humans deem necessary,” Asgore then spoke firmly. “I will not deny what I have done. I regret it every day, but this is what must be done to protect my people, to help them… to free them from…” He stopped himself, there was no point in convincing this human. “Surely, there cannot be all who would judge us all for the actions of one.”

“Do you know the saying, “the bad apple spoils the bunch”?” she asked. “Many humans still think like that. We have racism among our own people, there is still so much hate,” she warned.

“And you?” he growled, his fur started to stand on end. “Why do you hate us so?”

Deadened blue eyes blinked, taken aback by his words. “I don’t… hate you.”

“Don’t play me,” he growled, flames starting to spark in his massive paws, one still wrapped around his massive trident. “You said you came here to…” he couldn’t even finish the sentence. “You were hoping to pin your death on an innocent monster?!”

She didn’t seem intimidated by the display of anger. “Until I came across those windows, I didn’t put any stock into the monster stories. Until I saw,” her eyes drifted to Sans, “…I hadn’t even… I’m still processing all of this. But I don’t hate either of you,” she said as she looked up at them both. “You can’t call me hypocritical either, both of you were willing to kill me so much as look at me, and I am just as willing to die by either of your hand.”

Flames smothered as if doused by her words. It was true, the only thing she did was appear and the king was willing to take her life. Sans no doubt thought the same until this other idea of his popped into his head. “You still wish to die?”

“Your majesty, just a few moments ago, I was thinking of how to make jumping into lava painless,” she explained. “I think I’m past that point on the ledge… at least if I die by your hand, I can help someone, somehow I suppose…” she shrugged a little. “But… if I can help with something else first… I’ll do that. You can always take my soul later, yes? And it’s not like I can leave even if I wanted to if what you said is true about the barrier.”

Finally, the trident vanished. His paws hung heavily by his side. This was truly a dire situation they found themselves in.

“Sans,” Asgore spoke, his voice heavy and deep, but he spoke with authority, “You are responsible for this human… whatever happens…”

“got it,” the skeleton muttered. What had he gotten himself into?


	2. Chapter 2

Suddenly, he was left alone with this human… and a window completely shattered. He sighed as he glanced down at the human, who despite them being alone for several minutes at this point, hadn’t moved or said anything… even he could see the glass in her skin… didn’t that hurt?

“feel free to _cut_ in here, but… i have to assume that hurts,” he tried, forcing a smile on his face as he always did.

It would fall though pretty quickly as she sat there, doing nothing. The hell was he supposed to do when she wouldn’t give him anything? Jokes were failing him, the lack of sleep was definitely not helping his wit. He gripped his skull, trying to figure out a way to get her to open up… saying anything! It was better than this silence! At least when he was alone there was an excuse, but this? This was unnerving on so many levels.

Tired eyes glanced up at the anxious skeleton. She could see the darkening circles under his eye sockets, the twitching in his fingers… what else did she really have to look at right now? Her own wounds? He was more worried about them than her.

“Sorry,” he would hear in a soft whisper, as if it was taking a lot of effort to speak, “my _sans_ of humor is a little… _bone_ dry at the moment.”

Eyelights started to return to his skull as he processed what he just heard. He stared down at the human. He didn’t know why it was so hard for her to speak right now when she just said all of that to Asgore, but… he was going to take it over the silence.

“I didn’t mean to _cut_ you down,” she continued, after a moment of silence. “You have a pretty good _radius_ with those jokes, I’m just feeling a little _dead_.”

Sans had felt a smirk tugging at his lips before the last one made him drop it. “that last one fell a little flat, _tibia_ honest.”

She shrugged a little. “Not everyone can be as _punny_ as you, I suppose.”

The wordplay was nice, but there was no feeling behind hers. Granted, there wasn’t much feeling behind his own. It was awkward… but not as bad as before.

“i’ll let you win this round. i mean, it’s kinda my fault why you’re here.”

“I came to the mountain of my own volition.”

“yeah, but i magically threw you through a window,” he weakly laughed, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

Silence started reigning over them again and Sans felt panic begin to bubble through him. He just made it awkward again! Couldn’t she just let him take the blame?!

“I would be dead either way,” she said softly.

Sans froze, his eyelights going out once again, leaving nothing but the black sockets. That wasn’t what he meant…

“As for your question… well, statement really,” she corrected herself as she looked down at the glass in her hands, which by now, were starting to tremble slightly. “It does… hurt, I mean…” she admitted softly.

“then why… aren’t you doing anything about it?” he asked. “you’re just…”

“What point is there in tending to a dead woman?”

“damn it! you’re not dying yet! why do you want to die so badly?! the hell is so bad that you’re actively seeking out your own death?”

Silence once again fell between them and the skeleton let out a heavy sigh.

“fine, i get it. personal…” He rubbed his skull. “do you… want help?” he then asked. “your hands are shaking kinda bad…”

“Please…” she said softly, which surprised him. “I have a first aid kit in my backpack…”

Sans’ brow furrowed. She had a first aid kit this whole time? However, she wasn’t making a move for it. What, did she want him to get it? Why? She must have seen the confusion on his face because she glanced back to something on her left side, the side opposite of him.

“I can’t take it off…”

Concern started to etch into his bones. Why couldn’t she take off her backpack? He walked around to her left side, glancing down. He saw a lot of red, and that worried him. He crouched down, looking carefully. As he started to move her backpack, he heard her wince. It was the first time she had shown a proper pain response, so he had to be on the right track. He started to lift it again and his eye sockets widened.

“holy-!”

A giant piece of glass, about the size of his hand was pierced through the bag and into her back. No wonder she hadn’t moved! The pressure of her bag was probably keeping the blood from seeping out, he could figure that much, but…

“uh, this is gonna sound… bad, but i, uh… i don’t really know how to… fix humans?” Sweat started to bead down his skull. He was intelligent, but damn it! “your biology is… pretty different from monsters… isn’t it?”

“You expect me to know?” she quipped back. “I didn’t even know you guys existed this morning.” She winced as he moved the bag again. How strange, she was going to have to trust him on this. “T-take the first aid kit out,” she told him while wincing. “Get a couple pads of gauze. If you can take my bag off without the glass being pulled out, do so and just toss it over my head.”

That was simple enough, he thought. He opened the bag, trying not to jostle it as he did so. Looking inside, he saw it was pretty full. He started taking things out… a sweatshirt, some books… finally, the kit. He put it down, opening it and looking through. It looked similar enough to what monsters used… He just needed to stop worrying and do what she said. He ripped open the gauze and held it with his magic, keeping it floating as his hands went back to the glass. He lifted her bag gently. He kept the glass as still as possible, pulling it from the bag with some difficulty. It was really embedded in there, and it didn’t want to wiggle loose. It was easier now without the extra weight in there…

She could feel it once it was free. Sans didn’t just throw it over her head like she said to, but he did push it up and she grabbed it, pulling it down to her torso. Felt weird for it to be upside down but for now, she’d deal with it.

“Okay,” she took a breath. “Is it a wide end? Can you lift my shirt without pulling it out?”

“uh… not really, it’ll get caught,” Sans answered.

“Okay, so… I hope you’re quick and don’t freak out with fresh wounds.”

Sans couldn’t help but remember all the injuries he had caused to the kid over the resets… he never really got a close look at any of it, but blood? No, he was fine with that by now… at least, not squeamish.

“nah, pretty hard to rattle these bones.”

He heard her laugh! It wasn’t much but there was a soft chuckle! His head perked up as he looked at her, trying to catch of a glimpse of whatever emotion might be on her face. She had been pretty hard to read, he was hoping to get a better glimpse into what this human’s deal was… but he missed it. Well… plenty of opportunity later. He finally got her to crack!

Hearing her shaky breath, however, sobered him up pretty quickly.

“So… I need you to yank that glass out as carefully as you can, try and keep it straight with the angle of entry, then lift my shirt and apply pressure with the gauze. Keep adding more as it seeps through until it doesn’t, then we can tape it in place.”

This was going to hurt, wasn’t it? She was bracing herself for it. Was there any way he could make this not hurt, he wondered? Maybe… if he hadn’t spent most of his magic… he had been using it nonstop… he wasn’t the greatest at healing magic to begin with, he learned it to heal scrapes and bruises on his little brother, but never bothered to learn past that. Would that have even worked on a human?

“okay… ready?” he asked as he took his own steadying breath.

His right hand smoothed down her shirt while his left held the piece of glass. It moved in the wound and he heard her hiss. It made him hesitate for a moment, but he knew he had to get this done. He took the path of least resistance, hoping it wouldn’t do any more damage as he yanked the piece out. The second it was clear, he dropped it to the side and lifted her shirt high enough to expose the wound. It bubbled with blood in a way he had never seen and it did make him pale a little. The kid deserved everything they got… her? She hadn’t done anything…

He felt the warm liquid spew upward through the bandages. It really soaked through quickly. He grabbed a few more with magic from the kit, ripping them open and placing them against the wound… it took five pads for it to stop seeping through. He searched through the kit to find the tape and started taping the gauze to her skin… at least this part was familiar to him… though now her blood was literally on his hands…

Feeling him finish with the tape, the woman turned and looked back at him. She saw him staring at his hands, the bones having been lightly coated… She couldn’t take off her shirt in front of him, but…

“Just use my shirt,” she said softly. “It’s already torn and soaked… once the rest of the glass is out I’ll switch to the sweatshirt or something…”

It felt weird… but he wanted it off. He gently grabbed the side of her shirt, pulling it as far from her body as he could before using it as a towel, trying to get the blood off. A slight discoloration to his face showed his embarrassment and awkwardness.

“there’s… nothing else that bad, right?” Sans then asked.

“Not that I can feel,” she said softly as she slowly slipped her arm out from the strap of her backpack, keeping the contents from falling out as she slipped out of it. “But I really don’t think I’m up to picking glass out of cuts right now.”

Sans looked over as she held her hand out in front of her. It trembled pretty erratically. “did you lose too much blood?”

“Maybe…” she muttered softly. “I’m still… coming down from everything too… It feels like more than just my hands…”

Cautiously, he placed a hand on her shoulder. He could feel her trembling. Was she going into shock? He stood, his arms wrapping around her arm as he tried to pull her up, which he found was not an easy task. She was a lot heavier than she looked… magic was so much easier.

“What… are you doing?”

“you need to rest, at the very least lean against the wall out of the glass.”

Tired blue eyes examined the skeleton. He wasn’t wrong, but… he was so small… what made him think he could lift her?

“Brace yourself.”

Sans planted his feet and she shifted her arm, grabbing his in return as she pulled herself with his help. She had a lot of strength, he almost fell when he underestimated her again. As she stood, he realized she was as tall as Papyrus, but a lot bulkier. Were all humans this big? They might be in trouble…

He led her over to the wall, helping her try to brush off any extra glass from her clothes on the way. He could feel her trembling as they walked. Luckily they weren’t going too far… When they got to the wall, she all but collapsed against it and slid down, her head leaning back against it.

“are you going to be all right?”

A heavy breath escaped her as she leaned against the cool wall. It felt nice for the moment… however, his concern was… she didn’t know how to describe how it made her feel… did it? She wasn’t feeling much of anything but fear and pain…

“Is this because you need me in “good” condition for whatever it is you want me to do?”

“what?” he questioned before he caught on to what she was saying. Had he already forgotten what he told Asgore? With a sigh, he said, “oh, that… yeah, i uh… don’t have anything…”

Her eyes widened a little as the implications hit her like a truck. “You lied to… why?” she asked quickly. “Why the hell would you lie, to the king of all things? You could have gotten out of here!”

“i don’t know!” he quickly protested, sitting down beside her. “i just..!” A hand ran over his skull, fingertips digging into the bone. “i didn’t like how you said that, all right?” he answered with a sigh, “i didn’t… look, i don’t know what you’ve been through, but i’m always the first to give up. if i can find something to keep me going, so can you. don’t you have family or something?”

Sans watched as what little light he had managed to bring to her eyes fade away. Her gaze focused on the ground and instantly he realized that he had directly hit a sore spot.

“None that care.”

What was he supposed to say to that? Deny it? He didn’t know her, he didn’t know what the situation was really like… nor did he really want to know.

Silence instead overlapped the two in an uncomfortable embrace. Neither made a move, both just sat there, reflecting on the day’s events. For Sans, he suddenly had someone to watch over. At least it was better than the kid… what was he going to do? He couldn’t leave the Hall, he had to wait…

His attention was grabbed by the human beside him trying to get up. Trying being the key word. She seemed to struggle as she tried to get purchase off the wall. How badly was she hurt?

“hey, maybe you should take it easy,” he spoke up. “not gonna hurt ya to be lazy for a bit, ya know?” he tried to lighten the mood a little, not really a joke, but an inflection with that practiced smile of his.

“I just need the first aid kit,” she responded softly. “I heal abnormally fast. I’ll make my life harder if I wait much longer with this glass. There’s tweezers in there.”

“oh,” he blinked, tilting his head a little in admitted curiosity. Could he ask? Should he? He glanced back at her things he had left over there, deciding he was going to be lazy too. He used a bit of magic, it didn’t really take a lot to levitate, to bring it back over.

He watched as she started digging the glass out of her left hand first. Luckily most of it did miss her, but where it did get her, she wouldn’t be able to get easily, not without magic and maybe a mirror.

“do you want help?” he then offered. “i mean, _glass_ half full here, but without a mirror there’s only so much you can do.”

“I won’t say no,” she responded softly. Her hand was still shaking pretty badly as she passed him the tweezers.

“out of puns?” he asked with a weak smile. He was hoping she had a little more in her.

“Oh, was that..?” she then realized, holding her head a little. “Forgive me, my glass is pretty empty,” she weakly smiled in return.

Sans chuckled weakly. “i’m _scrapping_ the bottom of the barrel too.”

The young woman took in the fatigued skeleton, the distant look in his eyes. She watched as he gently took her right hand, picking little shards of glass out of the tender flesh. Not that she flinched. She had hit her pain threshold, there was nothing he could really do that would make the pain worse… she was pretty numb.

“Just can’t _facet_ yet, huh?”

Tired eye sockets blinked and he looked up from her hand to stare at her, confusion evident. Obviously that was a pun, but he was having a hard time figuring out what from. The Hall was pretty ornate, but nothing really stood out for that… no crystals, no gems…

A warm chuckle seemed to escape her at his obvious confusion, a bit of life returning to her eyes.

“Apologies. My name is Jewel.”

It took him far longer than it should have for that to sink in. His face erupted in blue, embarrassment running through him. “i never asked??”

He never asked her for her name?! But she was calling him..! He didn’t even introduce himself, she heard his name from Asgore! He totally forgot about it all! He was such an idiot! He threw her through a window, nearly killed her over a mistake and he couldn’t even be bothered to ask her name?!

His embarrassment didn’t fade when he heard her laugh. It was light, different from the sounds she had given earlier, it actually seemed to be genuine… and it was at his expense! His face grew a little darker at the sound.

“Yeah, that was a bit of a _boner,_ eh?” she teased. “No _fibula_ , I was wondering when you’d ask. Kind of _humerus_ it didn’t cross through that _thick skull_ of yours. But it’s okay.”

Sans’ gaze was fixed on the ground, embarrassment coursing through him as he was suddenly barraged with puns, something just a moment ago he was hoping to hear more of! Now he was kicking himself for it!

But out of the corner of his vision, he flinched back as her hand gently came at his face. He didn’t flinch far enough, the gentle touch of her fingertips caressed the cracks near his eye socket.

“But it’s something that’s easy to _slip through the cracks._ ”

He looked up at her as her hand pulled away from his face, eyelights quivering in his sockets as they focused on her. What the hell was that?

“Heh, sorry,” she said softly as the silence continued to grow between them. “I probably… could have brought it up before. The puns just kind of… lined up, sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“i mean… i did ask you for more puns,” he relented with a sigh. He rubbed his left eye socket. He could still feel her touch, lingering… “but… why didn’t you bring it up earlier?”

“I just…” she hesitated, leaning a bit more against the wall than she had before. “You know what they say with names and attachment right? When the king finds out this plan of yours isn’t going to amount to anything…”

Shit, she was right… “i’ll figure out something,” he said softly. “might not be able to fix what happened, but…”

“What _did_ happen, anyway?” she asked. “You said something about another human?”

“heh, i think it can wait for now, don’t you? we still need to get the glass out of your face.”

“And my head.”

Sans’ brow furrowed together, “what?”

He watched as Jewel leaned down, showing the top of her head. Her thick hair was only slightly wet, darker… he leaned in and started moving the strands of hair out of the way as the light finally hit some of the shards of glass…

“why didn’t you say anything sooner?” When she shrugged, he groaned a little. “we’re running out of light, it’s not going to be an easy thing to see…”

Confusion was plastered on the skeleton’s face, replacing his embarrassment completely now, as he saw her digging into her pocket. She pulled out… something. It was flat as rectangular, yet still small enough to be held in her hand.

“what… is that?”

“My phone?” she blinked. “Do you guys not have cell phones down here?”

Sans blinked rapidly. “ _that_ is a cell phone?” he asked incredulously. He dug into his pocket, pulling out an older flip phone. It still had an antenna.

“Oh, wow. I haven’t seen one of those in decades,” she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“well, we do kind of live off human trash here, as far as some of our tech is concerned,” Sans admitted, with a bit of embarrassment. “not everyone has one… i just… live in a different part and i’m needed around the place a lot…”

“Well, the king does seem to keep you in high regard, I can imagine how important you are to the people.”

“heh, nah, just a few,” Sans laughed a little. “but, why did you pull out your phone? gonna call someone?”

She blinked, then chuckled. “No. Cellphones aren’t just for communication anymore,” she said before turning on the flashlight feature, Sans eyes going wide. “There’s a lot they can do, they’re essentially handheld computers. It’s pretty cool,” she said with a smile, his curiosity endearing. “I figure… this will help with the glass.”

Right, task at hand, Sans shook his head free of science-filled thoughts. He could ask about the technology later. But there was one more problem… she was tall and he really didn’t have the energy to stand and hover over her while she sat against the wall. He couldn’t ask her to pull away from that wall either, not when she was trembling the way she was.

“well… the top of your head is gonna be awkward no matter what we do,” he started.

“Are you telling me to lay down?” she bluntly asked.

He couldn’t help the faint dusting of blue that appeared just slightly on his cheekbones as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. A soft, nervous laugh escaped him as words seemed to fail him. Jewel just watched him. She was too tired to really argue.

With a sigh, she grabbed her sweatshirt that was still laying on the ground and rolled it up, creating a pseudo pillow and just laid on the ground, as uncomfortable as it was at the moment. Sans blinked but he leaned over. It was clear it wasn’t comfortable, not against the wall like they were. So after a few minutes of awkward plucking glass out of her face, she waved his hand back.

Confused, the skeleton pulled back at her action, only to realize she was adjusting herself. Another dusting of blue sort of came over him as she moved her sweatshirt over his lap and plopped back down.

“Better?” she muttered tiredly.

He blinked, but he couldn’t deny how much easier this was. “uh… yeah…” he admitted, a bit of shy awkwardness hinting at his voice.

She then handed him her phone, which he suspended in the air with magic. The light in the room was really disappearing, so it was a nice tool to have.

“ya doing okay there, buddy?” he asked as he plucked a piece of glass out of her temple. She was an easy patient, he’d give her that. Let him move her head without much prompting to get angles he needed.

“Tired,” she answered as her eyes fluttered closed for a moment, only to slowly open several seconds later. “Don’t really know if I’ll be able to get back up after this, just push me off when you’re done,” she laughed weakly.

“is it really that bad?” he asked. “i mean, i didn’t think the window would take that much out of ya.”

“S’not the window,” she muttered a bit. “I’ve been driving for two weeks to get to this mountain, eating crappy fast food and truck-stop snacks, sleeping in the back of my car for a few hours before getting up and driving again. Then the actual climbing of the mountain only to be yanked by… God, I don’t even know how ya did it… I can’t even describe how tiring it is to be emotionally numb either, to just be… done… with everything…”

“heh, ain’t gotta explain it to me,” he said with a weak chuckle. “been there more times than i care to remember."

“Tit for tat?” she asked, glancing back at him as best she could with her head titled away from him as he continued to dig for a piece in the side of her head. “Tell me yours, I’ll tell ya mine.”

He supposed that was fair… and as depressing as it was, he had this weird… feeling, he supposed, about all of this… He didn’t like how she was so easily accepting of her soul being stolen by Asgore, how she sounded so… disappointed when he didn’t attack her. It was probably the latter that at him more.

“well… it’s hard to explain,” he started, “and it’s gonna sound crazy.”

“Dude, I drove thousands of miles to die only to meet a talking skeleton and a giant goat with a trident and flame powers that is essentially an allegory for the grim reaper and Satan respectively. Only you both wear a lot less black than in most depictions.” Sans laughed with her, though if it was out of awkwardness or just the way she said it, she didn’t know. “I’m pretty accepting at this point, ain’t nothing you say will top the amount of crazy people will think when I retell this whole ordeal if I change my mind.”

“change your mind, huh? that mean i can talk you out of killing yourself?” he asked with a lazy smirk.

She shrugged a little. “Who knows? It’s happened before. Just leads back, but ya might get some luck.”

“you have a history of this?”

“Yeah,” she admitted with a heavy sigh, much too easily for Sans liking.

“but, why? i mean, you’re so funny, even like this. you literally came to die and you’re still joking around with me!”

“Tit for tat, remember? Didn’t I ask you first?”

“technically, i asked you first.”

“Technically, Asgore did,” she fought him on his technicalities. “You did ask, but you dropped it, changed the subject. We’re still technically on topic.” She tilted her head back to him, smiling softly, “So, c’mon bony, spill your figurative guts, then I’ll do the same.”

Sans couldn’t hold back an honest chuckle. Seeing her smile like that, even if it was probably just as practiced as his own, there was some light behind it. There was something about talking to someone having hit rock bottom, to have someone on the same level as you, even if they hadn’t known your exact situation, that there was just… an understanding.

“alright, but keep still so i can work on your head,” he told her as he tilted her head to the angle he needed. At her silent acceptance, he took a moment to prepare himself, letting out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “it goes back to that other human… see, there was this kid who fell into the ruins near my home one day… i mean, what harm’s a kid gonna do, right? but you humans have more magic than you realize… this kid… their determination was enough to have them alter time. whenever they wanted, they just… reset the world to a point they wanted… and no one was any the wiser…”

“But you know,” Jewel spoke up, glancing back at him but she kept still, not moving as she had silently agreed.

“heh… took me long enough,” he muttered softly as he managed to pluck another piece of glass out of her head. He rotated her so he could make sure he got everything out of the visible skin before he had her scoot down a little so the top of her head was at a more natural angle for the both of them, using his femur as a bit of support for them both.

“i just… caught on one day… as a scientist, my whole line of research was quantum mechanics and timeline variables… a time machine was in the works if you can believe that. then it…” he sighed. “doesn’t matter, i guess… but i started noticing the peculiarities and I was… able to figure it out. this kid was just… manipulating us for cheap laughs, or something… then i started remembering the deaths…”

“Deaths? Wait, the kid was-?”

“killing monsters and then resetting to bring them back. and none of them know…” he sighed, “i mean, some, like my brother, noticed a few instances of déjà vu… the kid wasn’t perfect…”

“You’re… brother?”

“yeah…” he confirmed, heavily, “gotta tell ya, whatever you’re going through? can’t be as bad as watching your brother die, hundreds of times, and not being able to do a damn thing to stop it. even knowing what's going to happen, there’s…”

His hands started to shake, his vision started to blur as his eyes went dark. Memories always plagued him and it was worse when he didn’t sleep. The nightmares were bad, but the flashbacks were arguably worse… he couldn’t escape…

He felt a warmth touch his hand as it hovered over her head. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, his eyelights returning faintly as he saw her hand holding his own. His gaze traveled down to her as he saw those steel-blue eyes staring back at him.

“Sans, I was never going to compare us,” she told him with a gentle inflection. It confused him, was she upset with him for doing so? But as she continued, “By default, being trapped underground, you kind of already got most of humanity beat in terms of bad situations. At least most of us are free, we can go anywhere we want in the world, provided we can afford it. I mean, hell, even me. But the one time I decide to travel… can’t say I really regret it though. I mean, the locals here are pretty nice, all things considered,” she smiled up at him.

He stared down at her, unable to help the half-hearted chuckle that escaped him. “hey, i thought i was the one supposed to be talking you out of a funk.”

She shrugged casually. “Eh, nothing saying we both can’t do it,” she said with a small smirk, but it soon fell as obvious questions were on her mind. “What… happened with the kid? I mean…”

Sans sighed a little as he leaned back against the wall. She wasn’t going to think the locals were nice anymore… “it… always comes down to the two of us… in this hall,” he explained softly. “it’s always… me or the kid… sometimes i lose and then it’s asgore… he’s a pretty tough customer, that one,” he lazily grinned, though there was no emotion behind it, “but his ability to remember is… limited. he’s the only one i’ve really brought this to… he’s done his best but i’m the only one with a decently… coherent memory of what the kid does… but even he’s remembered losing to them. it’s… i don’t know what their end game is… they kill us all… only to reset…”

“But, what about now?” Jewel asked, concerned. “Where’s the kid now?”

Sans shrugged lazily. “wherever they go when they’re between resets, i guess? taking their sweet time with this one,” he muttered.

“How long has it been?”

“a month, give or take?”

“A month?” Jewel parroted incredulously. “What was the longest before then?”

“an hour or two?” Sans tried to think back, instead, focusing on her head. “doesn’t really matter. they’re just trying to throw me off… haven’t been able to sleep much due to it. it’s not really an excuse, but… that’s why i grabbed you. i saw your shadow and i thought it was the kid and just… reacted.”

Jewel remained silent as he picked the glass out of her head, slowly processing what she had just heard. She couldn’t very well look at him at the moment, but the fatigue she saw on him… the sunken sockets, the dark circles under them… the cracks in his skull, were they all from a month of constant…

She remained quiet and still until he finished with her head. She could feel him giving her a once over, but he didn’t push her off or even tell her to move.


	3. Chapter 3

“Sans?”

“hm?”

“When was the last time you slept?”

Sans chuckled nervously at the question. Silence had reigned over them for about twenty minutes and it was… weirdly comforting. While earlier it had been awkward, now it just seemed… normal.

“it’s not like i don’t sleep, i take naps when i can. i just… need to be ready.”

“And, other than sleeping, how do you get energy? This has to be the dumbest question out of my mouth, but I really have no idea… do you eat?”

He blinked at the way she asked, before laughing. “yeah, i eat,” he said, before a sort of rumbling escaped near his chest.

“The fuck?” Jewel blinked, glancing toward his torso. “You’re… not hiding internal organs or anything under the shirt, are you?”

A light dusting was on his cheekbones from the growl, but her questions were actually a pretty welcome distraction from what they had been talking about. “nah. but, admittedly, it’s… bee a while since i ate anything… that was… well… how to explain it…” he tried to think.

“Dude, just compare it to a growling stomach, that’s what it sounds like,” she said with a sigh. “That’s what most humans do when they’re really hungry, their stomach makes this weird… protesting sound that it’s not getting enough food.”

Sans blinked at how blunt she was, but chuckled a little, a lazy smile adorning his face. “heh, essentially that’s what it is, by the sound of it. minus the stomach part.”

“Dude, you sound horrible at taking care of yourself,” she muttered as she moved her leg, too lazy to actually get up at the moment, kicking her bag toward her, so she could grab it. She pulled the bag onto her chest, giving Sans a perfect view into it as she opened up the smaller, but still large front pocket to reveal a bunch of different snacks in them.

“Go on, have something.”

Sans blinked as he looked into the bag. He could feel his hunger getting to him. This was wrong on so many levels… He couldn’t just take her food… to top it off… how did she suddenly start trying to take care of him?

“really, i’m—” he started, before the growling sound appeared again in his ribs. A fresh dusting of blue powdered his cheeks.

“Sans, c’mon. You took care of my wounds, it’s my turn. If you don’t pick something, I will shove something in your mouth.”

He sighed, heavily, but relented. Nothing in the bag was familiar…

“what is all of this, anyway?”

“Well, you got different flavors of chips, some candy, a little bit of chocolate, some jerky…”

“wait, jerky?” Sans snickered. “what the hell is jerky?”

She blinked a little. “What, you guys don’t have dried meats down here?”

“well, yeah, but… what kind of name is jerky?” he sniggered.

A simple shrug of her shoulders was her reply. “I didn’t name it. But it tastes good. Very salty though.”

Sans chuckled at her response, before relenting and just grabbing a bag of chips. He glanced down at the label. Sour cream and cheddar, huh? Guess he was going to try something new. He ripped open the bag and looked down at her.

“excuse me, but i do believe it’s your turn for storytime,” he reminded with a lazy grin.

“Oh, right,” she realized with a soft sigh.

If it was possible, she leaned a bit more into the skeleton. He never once moved her and despite him being all bone, with her hoodie there acting as a pillow, it wasn’t that uncomfortable, not like the cold tile… granted, it wasn’t so cold anymore, with her having been laying there for a while.

“It’s not nearly as dramatic as time-traveling child murderers or anything,” she began with a sigh, “I’m just… depressed,” she shrugged lazily. “Tired of fighting, tired of just… everything.”

“there’s got to be more than that,” Sans gently pushed.

“I can’t really just… point to one instance and say “this is why I want to die.” It doesn’t quite… work like that,” she sighed, “I’m just…” She motioned to her black eye, which Sans had delicately worked around previously, “My dad gave me this. Just a stupid argument that meant absolutely nothing, but I was tired of his bullshit, so I stood my ground over nothing. Mom just sat back and watched as usual, either trying to pretend it wasn’t going on or just tuned it out, I don’t know. My little brother, well…”

“you have a little brother?” Sans chimed in, unable to help himself. He still hadn’t even tried the chips yet, not wanting to distract from her.

“Yeah… he’s about four years younger… practically raised him,” she gave a weak chuckle. “Yet he treats me like dirt sometimes too… he’s got this…” she sighed a little. “He’s got autism and he can be the sweetest thing when he’s not in a mood. All he wants to do is get approval from those around him. He’s constantly showing off his skills, bragging about accomplishments. But he also gets angry and frustrated easily. He doesn’t always show it in the healthiest ways… as a kid he would constantly bash his head in the wall… later on he started pounding his fists against his arm…” she sighed heavily. “Sometimes it’s not just himself he takes it out on. He’s hurt me too.”

Sans was silent as the parallels to Papyrus played out in his mind. He supposed he was lucky his brother was too sweet to hurt anyone… “’m sure he didn’t mean it,” he couldn’t help but defend her brother.

“I know… he’s always really regretful afterward, but it’s just… another thing, ya know? I love him with everything I have, and I’d die for him, but it’s just… what good am I to him anymore? I can’t do much of anything for him anymore… hell, he helps me more than I help him now… I can’t…”

That sentiment hit him a lot harder than he thought it would. The chips were put down to the side as he looked down at the human who still rested her head in his lap. He could see the tears in her eyes and he knew what that sting in her soul felt like.

“hey… i’m… i’m gonna tell you something my brother told me… yours reminds me a lot of mine and i… well… he said… that no matter how old we get, no matter how successful either of us become… no matter what happens… he’s always going to need me… because i’m his big brother… we’re… family…”

Tears lined blackened sockets as he repeated the words Papyrus had spoken to him in a moment of despair… a point where he very much felt like she did now… a point where he was desperately close to being in again.

Jewel looked up at the skeleton. She could feel her own tears, she could see his… and despite the protesting of every portion of her body, she managed to sit up, with a lot of difficulty. Enough to where Sans was pulled from his thoughts for a moment, worrying over her. Still, as she sat there, she looked at the skeleton, tears still lining his eyes that showed concern for her…

Arms suddenly wrapped around him and Sans found himself frozen. The only one who randomly hugged him was Papyrus and he was… no one else was close enough to do this kind of thing. Sure, shoulder pats, arm touches, stuff like that was done, especially at Grillby’s when they were all chummy after a few drinks. Maybe a drunken one arm drape around your bar buddy. But this? He didn’t know how to process this.

Was it weird then, when she pulled back he felt cold? She was so much warmer than he was, for whatever reason, but they weren’t touching that long for him to adjust to it, were they? He was a skeleton, temperature wasn’t supposed to be a factor… He lived in Snowdin after all, he couldn’t feel the cold sting of the snow, he couldn’t feel the blistering heat of Hotland… so why the hell was he feeling cold when she pulled back?

“Sans?”

He snapped from his spiraling thoughts as he looked back up at the human in front of him. Her brow was furrowed, knitted together in concern. Great, did he space out?

“heh, sorry, guess i’m more tired than i thought…” he tried, averting his gaze from hers.

Jewel watched him for a moment before moving to lean against the wall again, still sitting next to him. “C’mon, eat the chips then,” she encouraged him as she sat there. “I wanna make sure you eat something before you head home to sleep.”

Home? He hadn’t been home since… His hand rested against the red fabric of his brother’s scarf. Being home hurt too much. Literally everything about Snowdin reminded him of Papyrus. Even just thinking about snow made him think about how his brother would stomp around, yelling at him for falling asleep at his station…

Though she obviously didn’t know specifics, it wasn’t too hard to figure out what was going through his mind. After all, depression was a language they both spoke pretty fluently, it seemed. He was able to read her pretty easily in some aspects, while she was able to read quite a bit about him through it too. Granted, she had never lost her brother as he had, but the thought had definitely crossed her mind more than she liked to admit. Things were not the greatest back home and it seemed that he was avoiding home as much as she would during times like that…

“You haven’t been home, have you?”

“…no,” he whispered softly.

“So… what, you do everything here?”

“…pretty much.”

“Have you even eaten anything in the past month?”

A weak shrug was his response. Why was he even being honest with her right now? If anyone else asked, he would have blown them off with a joke… maybe it was because he felt she could see through it… or was he just too tired to keep up the façade anymore?

Jewel reached down and grabbed the chips and held them in front of his face, earning a surprised grunt from the skeleton.

“I will force these down your non-existent throat if you don’t eat them.”

“buddy, really, i’m okay, i’m not—”

“Bullshit,” she called him out, “I’m guessing your brother was the one who always took care of meals and the like. What would he say if he knew you hadn’t properly slept or eaten in a month, Sans?”

His voice caught in the back of his mouth. He couldn’t manage to make even a sound at the accusation. He could hear Papyrus’ ranting, see him stomping his foot, and his hands on his hips as he looked down at him with that scolding look. But once the anger passed, the concern would show. Papyrus would become quiet and ask him why… why he would do it, why he wouldn’t talk to him about it…

Tears truly began to flow from the darkened sockets of the distraught skeleton. Whereas before, there were small pockets of tears in his eyes, nothing truly fell. Now, however… there was nothing he could do to hold them back. He had been hiding from his reality for so long…

Once again, he felt arms wrap around him. However, this time, it felt different. The first time, it was fast, a tight embrace. Now it was… softer. Her arms wrapped around him delicately, as if holding him together… He felt her hand on his back and he almost fought against her. No, he was fine!

_“SANS, WHY WON’T YOU LET ME HELP YOU?”_

“…papyrus?” he gasped.

“Sans?”

He pulled back and looked up at the human who had been trying to offer him some comfort… something he had been denying himself for months. It wasn’t as if he was alone… Asgore, Alphys, a lot of the monsters that were left had come to check on him… he just pushed them all away. Jewel was a different scenario, however… he pulled her into this mess, this was his fault… and she had given up where he was trying to find something to hold onto… something that…

“Sans, you need to take care of yourself,” she scolded with a soft tone. “I’m hardly in any real position to talk, but for your brother, you need to focus on you.”

His hands gripped her arms as he began to tremble violently. His breathing hitched as reality started to crash down on him. “…they’re… not resetting… are they?” he asked her, but he knew the answer.

Frisk had never gone this long without resetting. Something happened this time… He had truly won… but he didn’t want to. He never wanted to..!

“paps… he’s… he’s really gone..?”

So many times he had lost his brother only to get him back, it never truly sank in until that moment… he was never going to see Papyrus again… never taste his pasta, never hear him scream at him when he made a pun…

He could feel Jewel move, and this time, he latched onto her. He had no one right now, and she had shown some basic kindness, trying to take care of him, hugging him despite him pushing away… and being a stranger, it was somehow… easier to break down in front of her. There were no preconceived notions about him that he had to worry about breaking.

Sans had buried his face into her shirt, his head against her shoulder as he sobbed. His bones rattled with each deep breath, each cry muffled. And there was nothing she could do for him. Nothing that would truly help. All she could do was let him know that he wasn’t alone. Her arms were around him, holding his delicate frame… it wasn’t anything like holding a human. His height wasn’t even an issue for her, her best friend was his height after all. But as a skeleton, he had no waist, not in the normal sense. After his ribcage there was… nothing but spine until the pelvic bone, so that was all she had to hold, was his shoulders and chest… which was significantly smaller than most would assume. He wore such baggy clothes it was almost startling to feel how thin his arms really were under them.

His arms would move from their position. Instead of grabbing her arms with his hands, they wrapped around her and squeezed, as if that was the only way to get his agony out. She was silent, but her face showed how painful that truly was. She gritted her teeth as she bore it, letting him do what he needed. She was going to feel this tomorrow… She still supported most of her weight against the wall, but she leaned down to hug the skeleton, and in doing so, her head did rest against his skull. She was feeling the fatigue, but she was trying to not fall asleep on him like this. She would talk to him, but… what could she say right now?

Somehow, she was able to hold off and not be the first to pass out from fatigue. It had taken hours, probably, and no doubt she probably drifted a couple of times, but Sans had cried himself out. She didn’t blame the skeleton. There was more going on than she knew, but it was not the time to ask.

She took her hoodie and draped it over the skeleton, trying to give him some form of comfort. Because she knew she wasn’t going to be able to stay awake, and in her sleep, she would probably let him go. Not that she had experience in this regard…

Finally, after fighting her fatigue for hours, Jewel finally succumbed.

The morning would pass, a king coming to check on his judge, only to find him cuddled up to their new human guest. She was pinned against the wall, her back against it, her head at an angle between her shoulder and the floor. Her arm draped around Sans as his arm wrapped around her loosely. His head was resting against her shoulder, face buried in the fabric as what the king guessed was an article of her clothing draped over him. He was unsure what had happened the night before, but Asgore had to admit he was grateful to find Sans finally asleep. Normally he found him awake or jolting out of a nap. This was the first time he had gotten this close without the skeleton awakening. He would have to have food prepared for them, eventually. But this made this difficult. If Sans’ plan, whatever it was, did not come to fruition… would taking her soul even be possible should Sans protest? That was not a fight he wanted to partake in.

The king would leave the two to slumber. The shadows cast in the Judgement Hall would change as the day continued to progress, neither waking… Until early evening. The sun was brightest in the Hall at this point, having just gotten to the point it was directly in line with the gaping hole in the mountain. Sans stirred at the light hitting his sockets, burying his face more into the fabric he found himself curled into.

It would take him a few moments to remember where he was, what had happened the day before. As Sans pulled back, blue dusted his cheeks as he realized he had fallen asleep after crying himself out against her. His arm was still around her, while the other had curled up under him to hold onto her shirt. He noticed her hoodie draped over him as a sort of blanket… it was large enough to almost qualify. It was too big for even her.

He sat up and rubbed his sockets. They felt tight from all the crying… and he felt like he was about to start again. Papyrus was really gone… If had known, he would never have fought back… What was the point? Getting to the surface meant nothing without Papyrus… but neither did living in the Underground… nothing was worth anything without his brother by his side…

He felt a hand slide over his own. Darkened sockets looked over at the human beside him, but he didn’t quite see her. He was still hazy from the fatigue and tears. He had made a fool of himself, didn’t he? He literally clung to her and broke down. What did she think of him, he wondered? The monster who threw her through a window forced her into entrapment and then broke down crying in front of her…

“Sans,” he heard. Her voice sounded so… heavy and miserable. He started blinking his eyes clear, rubbing them with his other hand, trying to get them to focus. “How ya feelin’? Ya…” he heard a soft groan, “doin’… alright?”

“’m fine,” he muttered, lying through his teeth as usual. His own voice sounded so rough… “what about you? ya don’t sound too good…” He leaned in a little, getting a slightly better look at her as his eyes began to focus. “oh shit… buddy, ya don’t look too good either…”

His vision was still blurred, but he could see enough. She was significantly paler than he remembered from the night before. Did she lose more blood? He put his hand on her shoulder blade to try and roll her forward a little, to see if her back was bleeding from the odd position they wound up in…

“AAAaaeeehh!”

Sans jolted back at the seething-like cry that came from her. It was almost sobering, his vision cleared a bit more at his startle, adrenaline pumping. He finally saw the pained expression on her face, tears lining her eyes. How long had she been wearing that expression?

“c-come on, buddy, this… wh-what’s wrong?” Why was he frantic? Was this because of him? Was this because of what he did to her? His hand began to shake as it hovered. He wanted to help, but a night’s worth of sleep wasn’t going to give him enough magic, not with how low his skill was.

Despite the pain she was in, she grabbed his shaking hand. Her breathing seemed to spike, deliberate breaths…

“I need you to help me sit up,” she pleaded.

“but you literally just screamed when i touched you,” he protested.

“I know, but if I don’t sit up, it’s only going to get worse. I need to straighten out and I can’t move on my own. Please…”

Sans hesitated, he didn’t know if he could do this. “m-maybe magic would be easier,” he suggested. If he grabbed her soul, he couldn’t hurt her by touch…

“T-that thing you did to grab me before?” she asked. “That… kinda makes a ragdoll effect, doesn’t it? I-I can’t, that’d… I-I need to keep my back straight as possible. Sans, please…”

The amount of pain and desperation in her voice was sending waves of anxiety through him. What had he done to her? She wasn’t like this yesterday! But she needed to get up… Swallowing whatever hesitation he had, he went over, grabbing both of her shoulders gently.

“okay… on three?”

With a slight nod, very faint, he got down on his knees, readying himself. Her arm went onto his, to support herself as she got up

“one… two… three!”

She had a silent scream, a slight but broken high pitch escaping her every so often as she exhaled. It was almost worse than what she had before… but as she moved, he could hear the multiple pops escaping parts of her body. It was like popcorn popping rapidly and it made him nauseous to hear. Despite it all, he did what he could to keep her back as straight as he could as he lifted her. She tried to help, but she really couldn’t move too much. He got her sitting up against the wall and once she was up, she panted heavily, tears streaming down her face. Sans couldn’t help but look down at where she was laying, looking for blood, but there was none.

“i’m going to get help,” he quickly said, “w-we got a human expert, she’s our doctor! sort of! b-but she should have something,” he frantically explained, but before he could teleport to find Alphys, she grabbed his arm.

“Don’t… it’s not… it’s not going to do anything,” she said, breathless, her voice cracking as she spoke.

“no, alphys is the best, she’s got something, i just—”

“Sans,” she said, clearly, forcing it out, which made him look back at her. “No one can help me. Humans don’t know how to help me.”

“what are you…. what are you saying?” He noticed she was only using her left arm, her right wasn’t really moving and seemed to kind just hang there. It was strange, her hand had a faint blue webbing pattern on it… He had definitely never seen that before. “what’s wrong with your hand?”

She sighed a little, motioning for him to sit down. He hesitated, but he slowly did, in front of her, not quite relaxing. He felt like Alphys could do something… their medicine was different than humans, maybe… whatever this was…

“It’s a medical condition, Sans,” Jewel explained, her voice tight. The pain from just sitting there was more than it should, but it wasn’t as bad as laying on the ground like she was… She tried to hide just how much pain she was truly in. “It’s… well…” she sighed a little.

“i can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”

“Sans,” she sighed, “you can’t. It’s a chronic pain condition. It’s not even treatable, it’s manageable, at best. Doctors don’t even know for sure what’s causing it.”

“so, you’re… just in pain like this… all the time?”

“It’s not… always this bad,” she admitted with a wince. “This is… a particularly bad flare-up. My lifestyle for the past few weeks hasn’t made my condition easy…”

“i don’t… pain is the body’s response to danger, to let you know that something harmful… how are you just… in pain without a cause?”

“Dude, the fuck do I know? I just have to live with it, I don’t know the answers!” Sans looked a little taken aback by her outburst and guilt started eating at her. “Sorry… that was uncalled for…”

“was this what you meant?” he asked, looking at her, “when you said you were tired of the pain, of fighting? it wasn’t metaphorical was it?”

“Not completely…” she sighed. “There’s a lot going on, Sans. But, really, would you have the will to keep going when there’s no hope of getting better?”

“how do you think i feel with the resets?” Sans countered, “do you know how many times i’ve lived through all of this? this is the first time…” He began to shake. He won at the cost of his brother…

“Sans… I’m sorry…”

“forget it. if you’re that damn determined to die, why don’t I go get asgore now?” he barked at her.

“Dude, you really think I care? You were the one who told him there was a way I could help!”

As the two narrowed their eyes at one another, a meek clearing of a throat caught both of their attentions. Sans turned around, while Jewel just moved her gaze, unable to do much else. Standing there was a small yellow dinosaur in a lab coat. Glasses adorned their face, not falling despite the lack of arms or attachments to the head. They had three buck-teeth protruding from the upper jaw and seemed to fidget, index fingers poking together.

“al, what are you doing here?” Sans spoke up.

“K-King A-Asgore asked m-me to come m-meet with you. H-He said s-s-s-something about a p-project…”

Sans’ eyes narrowed. Did Asgore catch them asleep, he wondered? It did look bad, even he knew that but… to pull Alphys in already?

“well, can’t do much,” he dodged, hands in his pockets as he stood back up. “our key factor is unable to move.”

His tone was harsher than it should be, Alphys noted, but she also noted that small amount of concern in his voice. Was he trying to hide it? He seemed agitated, best not to ask. After all, if there was something wrong with the new human, as a doctor, it was her duty to see to the patient.

“O-oh d-dear,” she said as she carefully approached, but she got near Sans. “S-she’s not… d-dangerous, is she?” she whispered.

“not a clue,” Sans retorted. “she’s too depressed to attack us, she’s been willing to let asgore take her soul… who knows what she’ll do if provoked though…”

“I can hear you, ya know.”

Both monsters froze and looked back at Jewel, who just sat there, looking a little bored. “Ya should probably know the more in pain I am, the more astute my senses get to predict incoming threats, so I can… ya know, avoid them?” Her head moved a little, tilting to the side and she tensed up, a seething hiss escaping her as parts of her started to shake.

Alphys almost felt guilty for talking so brazenly about the dangers she posed. This woman was in clear pain. “What’s causing the pain? Is there an injury?”

“few of those,” Sans muttered a bit. “but they’re not causing it. something about a medical condition. she’s pretty damn adamant there’s nothing that can be done about it,” he bit a little.

“Well, painkillers don’t work, nothing any of my doctors have tried even puts a dent in it!” Jewel bit back.

Alphys flinched a little at their hostility to one another. This wasn’t what she expected… “W-well…” she spoke up, trying to get between the two without getting caught in the crossfire. “W-what do you n-n-normally do? I-in an e-episode?” she asked.

“Depends on the kind, I suppose,” Jewel tried to think. “Normally when I get like this, I just… have to remain straight and I use a heated blanket to try and loosen the muscles so I can get up and get an ice pack… or five.”

Alphys blinked a little and went a little closer to her. “S-so, it’s… muscular?” she asked.

“Docs actually think it’s due to the nerves going crazy. There’s this theory that either there’s an electrical current issue, or my immune system is attacking the nerve endings. I kinda believe the second, because I got these numb patches on my body, or parts just start going numb after a little pressure. Either way, it still triggers the muscles to swell up and tense.”

“So you t-t-treat it l-like a s-strained muscle?”

“Sort of. Heat actually makes the problem worse if I don’t reduce the swelling first, but when I’m frozen in bed, there’s not much I can do except turn on the blanket.”

They didn’t have anything that could really cool her body like that… however… Alphys glanced back at Sans, and he tensed, knowing where this was going.

“no,” he cut her off.

“S-Sans, b-be reasonable.”

“i’m not going back there, let alone with… her,” he glanced back at the human just sitting there.

“You d-don’t have t-to go b-back to t-town, just… somewhere in the forest, so the s-snow can do it’s j-job.”

Eye sockets narrowed at the small dinosaur before the fight left his frame. He simply walked back over to Jewel, eyeing her a little. “i have to touch you.”

“Just don’t squeeze or apply pressure,” she replied. Unlike him, she had no fight. She was in too much pain to care any longer.

His gaze softened just a bit at the lack of resistance, just her plea to not make her pain worse. It caused him to hesitate a moment before he gently placed a hand on her shoulder before they teleported to Snowdin Forest. He backed up once they were there. He had her put near a rock wall, letting her continue to lean. Instantly, he could see her breath and the initial shiver from the drastic temperature change.

Silence reigned over them as neither were quite in the mood to talk. Sans just stood there, as if keeping guard in the too-quiet forest. His foot began to bounce against the rock he too decided to lean against. He didn’t quite want to nap… this would be perfect… but he was too on edge. After all, he was near home… Papyrus’ home… and near where Papyrus died. He held the scarf around his neck, his frame starting to shake not from the cold, but from emotion he was trying to suppress.

It had neared an hour since they had arrived. Sans could hear her shivering yet she had not made any other sounds. She wasn’t dressed for this weather, but the fact she was still shivering he supposed was good… He kept an eye on her. She wasn’t turning blue, though her ears and face were red, as were her fingers. He should probably end this, Alphys had to be wondering where they were. She was probably trying to turn this into a suicidal thing, not say anything and hope he’d let her freeze to death.

“I’m sorry.”

Sans blinked and looked to the human, who hadn’t really moved. She was even starting to gather some snow on her shoulders, just a little.

“what?”

“I’m sorry… for snapping before. I just…” she closed her eyes. “It’s not an excuse, but I… well, I’m just… tired of people acting like my condition isn’t real just because they can’t make sense of it.”

Sans stared at her for a moment, brow furrowing. “is that what you thought?” He got off the stone and looked down at her. “it doesn’t make logical sense, no, but obviously it still hurts. i was just trying to make sense in my head, i wasn’t trying to belittle what you’re going through. do people really do that to you?”

“My dad mostly. He likes to tell me I’m making shit up. Others think I’m overreacting to the pain. Then there are the people that do believe me but treat me like I’m made of glass. I don’t know if that’s worse… like, I have to move to keep myself from locking up, but I can’t do too much either without a flare either. It’s…”

“you can’t escape it either way, huh?” Sans sighed.

“Mhm,” Jewel sighed a little, before glancing back at him. “You know… I wasn’t insinuating anything either… right?”

Sans scoffed a little. “buddy, i told you more than i should have, yet you think you have it worse? i can’t imagine the kind of pain you’re in but—”

“Sans, I wasn’t trying to compare us! I know you’ve been through some fucking time-travel torture and I can’t even imagine what it must be like. But metaphorically being stuck isn’t like…” she groaned a little. “Never mind… but I wasn’t… trying to compare us. Comparing reasons to be depressed is like two fires competing to see who can burn hotter. They either destroy everything around them or burn each other out.”

Sans almost protested. What about all of this made him want to lash out at her? She hadn’t even done anything. Was she just the easiest? He could hear Papyrus…

_“SANS, QUIT BEING RUDE TO THE HUMAN! SHE HASN’T DONE ANYTHING TO DESERVE IT!”_

He grabbed the scarf around his neck. Was it because her showing up made him realize that he had really lost Papyrus? She wasn’t involved, she hadn’t _made_ him do anything. It was just… because she said the right things that his mind finally had no way to justify the denial he had been living in. Was it because he broke down and cried to her that he didn’t want to be around her any further? It wasn’t his fault she was hurting, she had a condition, his conscious was clear… but he was still the reason she was trapped here. The reason she had cuts and gashes on her… and that couldn’t have helped her condition at all.

“Sans?”

He jolted a little as she spoke again, pulled from his thoughts. He hadn’t realized his hand was trembling as he clenched the scarf. “what?”

“What was… your line of thinking when you told the king you had an idea? You told him you needed my cooperation…”

A sigh passed his teeth, eyes closed. “i have no clue. i was just… trying to stall for time. but the logic’s there, i guess… a human did all of this, maybe one could undo it.”

“You mean… the resets, right?”

“well… yeah, but you can’t.”

“Probably not, but I have no clue about any of this, you’re kind of the expert on it.”

“i don’t even fully know how the kid did it. i just know they could. but what i do know is that it requires determination, and you… don’t take this the wrong way, but…”

“Ha, no. Determination is the last thing I’d used to describe myself. I can’t even be determined when trying to die.”

Sans sighed, groaning a little. “can you stop with that?”

“You know it’s not gonna stop just because I stop talking about it,” she muttered a little. “Just not giving you false hope. Not… giving myself false hope. I’m gonna die, that’s the whole thing, Sans. I’m gonna lose my soul, that’s how it’s gonna go.”

Guilt suddenly filled his soul. She… “you don’t want to..?”

“I don’t… know anymore…” she muttered softly. “I’m just… numb right now… no strong feelings one way or another. But my reality is what it is now… and I…” She glanced back up at him, her head actually moving a bit. “I want to help. I don’t know how I can, but I want to at least try.”

Sans looked down at her, his soul twisting in his ribs. He let out a soft sigh and he walked over, gently offering her a hand. “all right, buddy. i’ll… start thinking more. but we need to get you better first before you can do anything.”

She offered him a small smile before reaching up and taking his hand. “Okay.”


	4. Chapter 4

The Hotland trip wasn’t as long as the one to Snowdin. Jewel didn’t like the cold, but the heat was kind of unbearable with the long sleeve shirt she had on. She was in a volcano after all. But the pressure from the hot rock was just what she needed. Alphys had met them back at the lab since it was pretty well deserted now. Most people were at the capitol, in New Home near the King, so he could offer support. But, given that a project was something they had gone to discuss, it just made sense.

“S-so, how are you feeling?” Alphys asked the human.

“Still sore and stiff, but I can move.”

“after cracking like someone crushing a bag of pretzels,” Sans commented.

“Oh, like your bones don’t pop,” Jewel teased.

“not like that.”

“Heh, remind me to show you how I can do it on command.”

“I-I’ve seen humans c-crack their joints in a-anime to show t-toughness, is that r-r-really done?”

Jewel blinked a little. “Wait, anime? You guys have anime down here?”

“remember how i told you we get a lot of human leftovers down here?” Sans shrugged a little. “some of it comes down.”

The human chuckled a little, surprising the two of them, but then a realization hit her. “Wait, wait… you said Alphys was your human expert, right? What exactly is your source material?”

Sans chuckled nervously while Alphys erupted in red, hiding her face in her hands. Jewel watched the two before she couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Oh, oh god. How bad is the anime?” she laughed. “Oh god, the amount of cringe.”

“I-I mean… I-I know i-it had t-t-t-to be e-ex-ex-exaggerated in some spots, but…” the tiny dinosaur fidgeted.

“al, you told undyne it was human history,” sans poked a little fun at her too, the smaller monster’s face erupting with more red.

“Well, to be fair,” Jewel started with a gentle smile, “some anime actually is based on real human history. Most media is in some form. I mean, history is the best teacher, after all, right? Have you seen anime with youkai in it?”

Alphys blinked. “Um… y-you mean like the cat-girls and tengu?”

Jewel chuckled. “Well, Tengu more than cat-girls, but yeah. You know what youkai are?”

“M-mischievous and malicious spirits?”

Jewel chuckled. “Well, yes, for the most part. But they’re Japanese monsters,” she explained. “Those cat-girls are loosely based off the bakeneko, a type of ghost cat. Humans around the world have a lot of mythos surrounding various monsters. Reptile people,” she gently bumped Alphys, “and skeletons,” she glanced back at Sans, “are two of the more common ones, actually.”

Alphys eyes sparkled a little, while Sans looked a little skeptical. “i thought you said humans don’t believe in monsters anymore.”

“They don’t. They don’t believe they’re real, but the myths, the stories, they enjoy as entertainment. Hence all the anime. Anime is Japanese-based, so Japanese folktales are what they use. There are plenty of other cartoons and media that use world-wide sources.”

“Th-that’s s-s-so c-cool! R-right Sans?” Alphys beamed, but when silence hit her ears, she looked over to the skeleton. “Sans?”

“i guess,” he shrugged, “just… really, we’re reduced to entertainment now?”

“Well… think of it like this, Sans. You’re a scientist, right? Most humans, well, there’s this whole thing. You got people who need physical proof in front of them, and then you got people who believe and use evidence to support what they believe. Sometimes by cherry-picking. I mean, how long have you guys been down here? Any ruins you left behind could be attributed to ancient humans, or humans could have destroyed all records of monster existence. I mean, we’ve got proof that we’ve done it to other humans because one ruler didn’t like a previous one in ancient history. I can only imagine what a whole culture would do to erase another if they wanted.”

“i suppose i can see that,” Sans relented with a sigh. “doesn’t mean i have to like it though.”

“H-How do you f-find out a-about past c-cultures?” Alphys couldn’t help but wonder.

“Ah…” Jewel chuckled nervously. “Well, ruins, mostly, archeological excavations. It’s a little morbid if you really break it down, ‘cause, really… we’re looking at old remains of humans that have survived centuries,” she explained with a bit of anxiety, rubbing the back of her head. “It’s… weird and I’m probably not explaining it right.”

“R-remains?” Alphys asked in a bit of horror, but also fascination.

“Uh, yeah,” the human blinked. “What, do you… not?” she tilted her head a little. “God, I can’t believe we got to this point,” she chuckled nervously.

“Uh, n-no… m-monsters… we… we t-turn to d-dust… Th-that might also be wh-why humans don’t know… if you l-learn through…”

“Yeah, if there’s nothing there, we wouldn’t know. And it’s not like… well, human remains don’t last forever either, the ones we find were either purposefully preserved or just happened to be fossilized somehow… there’s even an entire island that was just… frozen in time due to a volcanic eruption, the magma cooled over the people and everything else, leaving a weird… well, maybe you can look all this stuff up once you guys get free, huh?” Jewel sweated. “I’m hardly the best reference for you guys. And it’s not like… I’ll be around to help out…”

“W-what are you..?”

“if this doesn’t work, asgore’s gonna take her soul,” Sans explained softly, his voice void of emotion.

Alphys fidgeted, looking back at Sans with nervousness, before glancing back at Jewel. Seeing the nervousness in the small dinosaur, Jewel offered a reassuring smile.

“I-it’s okay,” she said softly. “At least I’d still be helping… sort of,” she smiled, a little nervousness behind it. “But… really I…” she took a breath, “I don’t know what I can really do. I’m willing to try whatever. But, as a contingency plan… I think some of this time should be coming up with ideas for your reintroduction. It’s going to happen one way or another, right? It’s going to be difficult, I can’t… predict how people are going to react. So I want you guys to be prepared for the worst.”

“Y-you think… w-we really n-need to?” Alphys asked nervously.

“Well… yeah,” Jewel explained.

“But you…”

“I’m an outlier, always have been. I’m hardly normal, in any sense,” Jewel laughed a little anxiously at herself, “But even I… well, my circumstances are… I honestly don’t know how I would have reacted if I wasn’t in the state I am now. If I was “okay” with myself, or my situation. Being too tired to care, it… well…”

“O-Oh…” Alphys fidgeted a bit more.

“Yeah… and either way, my life is what it is now. I’m kinda… stuck down here.”

“making the best of a bad situation, then, huh?” Sans commented though he felt his soul twist a little at her words. It was his fault, after all.

“Well, yeah, but…” she held a gentle smile, putting a hand on the skeleton’s shoulder, making him jump a little as he turned to look at her. “You’re still a lot nicer than most people I’ve met. I mean, all of you, even King Asgore, it’s… strange. I mean, I get his point of view, his people come first, and I’m hardly… but he actually asked. It’s… weird.” She ran a hand through her thick brown hair, fingers easily getting lost in the locks. “I’m probably rambling… but I… well… I dunno, this is turning out a lot better than I thought my trip would be,” she said with a little bit of a grin.

Sans stared at her, confused… more like bewildered. She was okay with Asgore threatening her like that? “heh, you’re a weird one, buddy.”

“Didn’t I just say that?” she grinned at him.

“W-well… s-shouldn’t we… um… g-get started?” Alphys shyly smiled. “W-we can at least start brainstorming!”

Even Sans couldn’t fight the small grin that was spreading on his face. Jewel had been smiling and for some reason… it was infectious. For the moment, he let himself get swept up what was happening. It was better than what he was trying to avoid anyway.

Alphys didn’t mind staying up late, the two had slept so much of the day away, but Jewel also noticed that Sans _still_ had yet to eat. So she called it early, telling Alphys she should get some rest, she was going to make this skeleton eat.

“buddy, i’m fine.”

“Sans, don’t pull that stuff with me.”

He sighed, rubbing his skull with the tips of his fingers. “you’re really gonna fret over me? aren’t you the one who just got mobility back? not to mention all the cuts.”

“I’m used to my condition. It sucks, but I can’t do much about it. Being still only aggravates it, remember? So long as I know my limit, which I do, I’ll be okay.”

Sans watched her as the two walked the halls. “you don’t even know where you’re going,” he pointed out.

“Not at all,” she laughed a little. “but there has to be a kitchen around here somewhere, right?”

Sans tensed a little and stopped, looking at her. “you’re… going to cook?”

She blinked a little and turned back. Why did he stop? “Well… yeah, I mean… what else do you do?”

“i dunno… instant noodles or something?”

“You still have to cook those,” Jewel pointed out. “Sans, what is it?”

“i… i don’t know…” he said softly, hands in his pockets. “i guess… the thought of eating someone else’s cooking other than paps…”

She hesitated a moment, before going over, a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I know you miss your brother… but you can’t associate everything with living with him. I’d tell you to cook instead, but you’d probably avoid that too.”

“heh… you know me pretty well for only having just met,” he teased.

“Just a pattern of behavior,” she shrugged a little. “But,” she squeezed his shoulder a little, “we can talk more after you eat, okay?”

Sans sighed, relenting. She was going to keep on this, wasn’t she? “why are you so adamant about taking care of me? i’m the one responsible for you, ya know.”

“Well, to be fair, you’re not taking good care of yourself. You seem like you need a little bit of a hand.”

He couldn’t really argue that. He had been so sure a reset was going to happen… deluding himself for over a month… it could still happen, but the chances were dwindling every day. The truth was it was most likely never going to happen… he had never known this much time to have passed between resets…

“look… the only kitchen i know of is back home… i mean, there’s probably more, but… i…”

“Lots of reminders of your brother.”

He nodded, gripping the scarf around his neck.

“And I’m guessing this was his too,” she realized.

“yeah… since we were kids,” he half-chuckled, sadness entering his eyes.

Jewel watched the skeleton for a moment. She could tell there was a fondness for the memory, it was just laced with the sadness of current events. She needed to get him talking… but first, she needed to get him to eat. He wouldn’t if she let him spiral like this.

He felt her take his hand in her own, distracting him from his thoughts as he looked up at her.

“Ya know, the King’s gotta have a kitchen. There was a whole castle here to take care of. If you don’t wanna go home, maybe we can find it and I can make us something quick and easy. Whatever ya want, okay?” she smiled softly at him.

Sans sighed, but he didn’t argue her holding his hand like that. He wasn’t sure whether if he just didn’t have the fight in him, or if he really didn’t mind. “fine, i think i know where to start looking,” he said with a fake grin, at least trying.

He did know his way around, at least a bit. He didn’t explore everywhere here, he had places he would go, and that was it. But, he fell behind, letting Jewel lead him around. Unless it was somewhere he knew she shouldn’t be, he just let himself be dragged along by his hand. As much as he just wanted to wallow in his depression, he found it oddly endearing how she was trying so hard. For someone who had given up and was ready to die just yesterday, she was really putting effort in.

It didn’t take her too long to find the kitchen. There was a monster in there, cleaning up from the meal earlier. Of course, they were startled, but Sans just waved them off, letting them go. It wasn’t as if he was unknown to a lot of these monsters. He didn’t like to flaunt rank or anything, he liked to blend in, but at times like this, well… it was just easier.

He honestly didn’t pay much mind to Jewel rummaging through the cupboards. Not until she noticed something too familiar to him.

“no pasta,” he quickly announced. That was the last thing he needed…

Well, there went that idea. Not that she had seen sauce, but noodles, in general, could be put with anything… but he seemed adamant to not have that… She couldn’t be sure why without asking him, but that was a conversation for another time. He needed to eat and she wasn’t going to risk having him miss another meal. Instead, she found some sandwich fixings and made something simple. It wasn’t quite what she wanted to do for him, but it was all she could scrounge up for the moment. It didn’t seem to bother Sans though, he simply ate it silently, though his usual laziness with it was overridden by the fact this was the first food he had in a month. Try as he might, he couldn’t keep himself from wolfing it down. When he realized just how fast he ate it, Jewel having only managed three bites out of her own sandwich, he felt himself blush as he tried to avoid her gaze.

“You want another?” was all he heard from her.

“i can—” he started to say, as he was about to push himself back to get up and make his own sandwich, but he was interrupted by the sound of her chair scraping across the floor. He felt himself rooted to his spot as she simply made another sandwich for him, despite barely getting any of her own yet.

When she put the sandwich in front of him, he found himself hesitating. He was still hungry, that was the point of this… so why…?

“i could have done it,” he protested quietly.

“It’s not a big deal.”

Sans felt himself start tremble. He didn’t know what it was but part of him was screaming. “yes it is!” he protested, unable to reason as to why. As he felt her hand on his once again, it started to register… “why the hell are you acting like everything is okay?” he then started to argue. “you’re not okay! there’s no way you can…” He stopped when he felt her hand squeeze his.

“Sans… I never said I was okay.”

“then why the hell are you acting like it’s all fine?!”

“What am I supposed to do?” she shrugged a little. “I feel miserable, but the world doesn’t stop just because I’m not okay with it going on. There’s literally nothing I can do about my situation. But I _can_ do something about yours.” She looked up, directly at him now, their eyes locking. “I _can_ make sure you eat, I _can_ make sure you get proper rest. I _can_ make sure you’re not alone when you need help. What I _can_ do is make sure you guys are prepared for the surface, figure out a way to help you reintegrate with humans.”

The trembling in his bones got worse, he was literally rattling. It was faint, but it was there, and it was embarrassing. But there was nothing he could do about it. “it can’t be that simple, can it?” he shook, holding his head with his hand, his sockets dark. “why the hell would you come all the way here if it was?”

“It can be for some,” she said softly. “For most, their situation gets better if they can fight through it. Yours is like that. I know it sucks, but there’s still a future for you. You’ve lost a lot, but you can move on. For me… my reasons to fight through are… well, sometimes it’s just not enough to balance the scales. I feel like my being around is only making things worse. They all have to change their lives to accommodate me. And… sometimes… it’s not about them. That’s… why I traveled all the way out here. I’ve never really traveled before, I wanted to at least once. Got to be a tourist for a little while before I came up here. And with most of the people that die on the mountain never being found, well… I would have just disappeared. No one would know, and I’d just fade away.”

Sans was brought back to a very similar thought he had with Papyrus… Every time the kid spared him but killed others, he would tell Papyrus they simply went on vacation… he knew the timeline would be reset, there was no point in his brother knowing… but if he was alive now? It made his soul twist.

“you realize that’s not going to work, right? they would put it together eventually.”

“Not until much later. By then, they’d be used to me not being around.”

“that’s not..!” Sans couldn’t comprehend that… Papyrus wouldn’t..! He couldn’t believe he lied to him like this! He knew the excuse was just so he didn’t have to deal with the loss when it didn’t matter… but to truly live it? “you really think that’s what would happen? that’s not how it works! your friends and family are going to panic that they can’t contact you before they start assuming the worst things they can think up!”

“You assume I have people who will notice.”

“you said you had a reason to fight! what about your brother?”

The tired human let out a soft sigh. “Sans, you need to eat.”

“i need to understand this, jewel! you said you take care of your brother, what about him?!”

She was silent for a long moment before muttering out a weak, “He’ll be fine.”

“he won’t be _fine_! i’m not fine!” he admitted loudly. He grabbed her hand with both of his, just trembling as he continued, “i’m the elder brother, but as much as i take care of papyrus, he takes care of me too! without him, i…” tears started to line his eyes again, his sockets still dark. “you can’t do this to him! you can’t..!”

_He_ couldn’t do this. Papyrus couldn’t leave him like this!

His eyes clenched shut as the tears started pouring down. In a second, he felt her hand slip through his, and both her arms wrapped around him securely. His hands gripped the fabric of her shirt as he rested his head against her chest, freely sobbing. He had already broken down in front of her once, what was another time?

He felt her slide the chair over so they weren’t leaning as far across open space. He was grateful as he pushed himself into her embrace more. He didn’t want her to be this comforting… she had her own issues yet here he was, crying into her once again. But he couldn’t help himself… maybe he was just desperate for any kind of comfort… but he wouldn’t let himself break down like this in front of anyone else either.

Sans was probably left to his crying in silence for ten minutes, just feeling her rub his back and gently stroke his skull before he heard footsteps. He internally panicked, he couldn’t stop himself at this point.

“Oh,” he heard a familiar, deep voice. “Forgive me, I didn’t think anyone else would be up at this hour.”

“It’s quite all right, your majesty.”

_Shit, shit, shit!_ It was Asgore! Sans almost pulled away, tempted to just teleport, but he felt Jewel pull him a little closer, gently pushing his skull into her shoulder a bit more.

“Sans was showing me where the kitchen was, but he fell asleep mid-meal.”

Asgore let out a soft chuckle. “Sounds like him,” he said with a fondness. He walked over to the table, seeing Sans leaning against the human. “If you like, I can put these away for you for later.”

Jewel smiled gently at the king before her. He wasn’t nearly as imposing as he had been during their first encounter. “I would very grateful, your majesty.”

“Please, call me Asgore,” he replied as he picked up the plates with the sandwiches on them. He wrapped them up and put them away. “Would you like some tea?” he then offered.

“Normally that would be wonderful,” she said with a genuine smile, “but no thank you. I should probably get Sans to bed, but I really don’t know where he lives.”

Asgore turned, seeing the skeleton still against her. “He lives in Snowdin, but that is a distance. I have attempted to get him to use a spare room here. Come, I’ll lead you to them. I’m sure you’re tuckered out yourself.”

“You’re very kind, your—Asgore,” she corrected herself.

Sans felt himself carefully lifted, her arms under him much like Papyrus would carry him. He fought the urge to move, to tighten his grip on her shirt should he give himself away. He still felt the wetness in his eyes, but he didn’t move from his spot against her. He kept his face buried in her shirt, letting his arms and legs fall where they may. She lied for him… he didn’t even have to do anything, she just instantly covered for him. He didn’t know what to make of this, but he was eternally grateful at this moment. He didn’t want anyone to see him like this, let alone Asgore…

“Are you quite all right carrying him?” Asgore asked as they started to walk. “You seem quite injured…”

“Oh, just some cuts from the window. I haven’t had a chance to really clean up,” she admitted with a nervous chuckle. “Besides, he’s not nearly as heavy as I thought he’d be,” Jewel smiled a little. “My best friend is about his size.”

“Your best friend?” the king prompted.

“I live far away, if you’re worried about retribution,” Jewel tried to ease, “and she can’t drive or anything. She’d probably be mad at me, anyway.”

He couldn’t deny he was a bit worried about that, but that wasn’t what he was getting at. “I… simply meant…”

“About my willingness to die, despite my friendship?” When Asgore gently nodded, the human sighed a bit. “It’s not that I don’t love her to death. She’s practically family, we’ve been friends for half our lives. Hell, her kids call me “auntie.” She’d probably figure out what happened first… she’s been around long enough, seen my episodes, helped me through several of them. But I can’t keep relying on her.”

Asgore felt his throat tighten at the mention of children. There were children in her life? “What about the children? Won’t they miss you? If you’re family…”

“The oldest might remember, he’s seven. The youngest is going to be three at the end of the month, the other is five… I doubt they’d remember me. But it’s not like they’ll really know…”

“Still, to deprive the children…”

“Of what? An aunt who can’t do much with them? Whom their mother makes them treat like she’s made of glass?”

“Of a caring person.”

Jewel glanced up at the fuzzy goat monster. “With all due respect, you don’t know me. And why are you trying to convince me otherwise? You need my soul to break the barrier.”

“Truth be told… I worry about what might be out there. Breaking the barrier with so few monsters… I’m truly hoping that Sans’ idea works. To reverse the tragedy that has befallen us…”

“Yeah… Sans told me a little bit about it. That a human child murdered everyone?”

“If there’s a way to undo that… I will prefer it. Sans seems to be relaxed around you. I trust my Judge, his ability to read people is rather unique. Besides that… your willingness to help is something I have yet to see in your species.”

“Most humans don’t like putting themselves out there due to the risks… but many still will. I can’t say I’m truly selfless…”

Asgore stopped and put his massive paws on her shoulder, careful of Sans, and looked her in the eye. “When I asked your opinion on the matter, you told me that at least you could help someone with your death. I understand wanting to give up, more than you might think, young one. I have lost much in my time. My land, my people… my wife and children… I have seen what humanity has had to offer in the past. You are not that.”

“Well, you are definitely not what I expected after that first meeting either,” Jewel said with a soft chuckle. “I really want to help out, I do, but I can’t expect to know how this works… and I can’t… afford to really get out of this mindset if you still plan on taking my soul at some point.”

The king let out a heavy sigh. As much as he rather not, he couldn’t promise he wouldn’t, either. If this plan failed… it really was his only option. He shouldn’t be getting close either… but he could still be cordial. His paws slipped from her shoulders, one on her back as he gently led her down the hall and opened a door.

“This, and the room next to it will be the two rooms you will use for yourself and Sans.”

“Thank you, Asgore.”

He nodded his head in response. “Have a good night,” he bid, before walking away.

Jewel watched as he probably returned to the kitchen to have his tea, or whatever else he went to the kitchen for. It was kind of refreshing to see a king willing to get his own things. But she felt the skeleton in her arms shift as if daring to peek to see if the king was gone. Instead, she opened the door and entered the spare room, closing the door behind them.

Sans lifted his head fully, tears still in his eyes as he looked up at her. He had calmed down in his fear but there had been no stopping the torrent.

“you’re really abandoning kids?” he broke the silence.

She let out a sigh. “They’re not my responsibility,” she said, her tone defeated.

“you know that’s not what i mean.”

“Sans…” She was suddenly tired. Sans and then Asgore…

It was strange, she didn’t put him down. Instead, she sat down on the bed. He felt his legs hit the mattress, extended out as he sat on her lap.

“Does it make you feel better to lash out at me?” He hesitated with his response. That wasn’t what he was doing… was it? “It’s okay if it does. I get it.”

“that’s not… i’m not…”

“It’s okay,” she said softly, gently stroking his skull, petting him to try and calm him down.

Sans was silent, the sensation on his skull surprisingly soothing. Slowly, he leaned in his head against her shoulder once again. “none of this is okay… not what happened to you, or us…”

She slowly leaned in, hugging the small skeleton. “Fair enough point,” she replied softly, closing her eyes as she leaned in, gently resting her head against his skull.

Silence would reign once again as Sans just leaned against her and she held him. The need to silently cry wasn’t leaving the skeleton, and he wasn’t sure why. She did adjust herself, and him, as time continued. She had to be hurting, he rationalized, but he didn’t want to move. He wasn’t sure if it was his lazy nature or if he had just given up on everything for the moment. He… strangely felt safe.

“Hey, Sans?” Jewel would ask after some time of neither of them drifting off. By this point, she was propped up against the wall, pillow behind her. Sans had folded his legs around her as he sat in her lap, still leaning against her.

“hm?” he asked, lazily not wanting to speak. He was somewhere between wanting to sleep and wanting to just cry more.

“Can you… tell me about Papyrus?”

Sans tensed and deflated all at once. His body finally settling on trembling, some of his bones rattling against one another. “w-why?” he stuttered, his hand gripping her shirt.

“Well… you compared him to my brother, and I… well…”

He felt her hold him together as if trying to stop his rattling. He slowly rotated his skull against her, showing his right eye and part of his mouth to her.

“he’s the best,” he said softly, a faint but sad smile slowly appearing on his face, “the coolest brother you could ask for. he loves puzzles and making spaghetti… not that he ever ate his own cooking. he just preferred to make it for everyone else and everyone pretended to love it, even if it was inedible,” he hollowly laughed, gripping her arm instead of her shirt now.

Well, that certainly explained his aversion to pasta earlier in the night. “Heh, that’s too bad. I love pasta,” she chuckled softly, “I probably would have tried it.”

“the taste is indescribable,” Sans half-chuckled, holding her arm a bit tighter. “i probably would have threatened you,” he reminisced, “to not say anything and just eat it. i do it a lot,” he admitted softly.

“Well, he wouldn’t really learn that way, but I suppose I can understand the need to spare his feelings. Bet ya I could’ve redirected into making it edible,” she winked a little at him.

“heh, maybe, but i don’t think i ever want it to be any different at this point,” he started to tremble. “it wouldn’t be his otherwise…”

Sans closed his eye as her thumb came down and gently wiped the tears from his face. “I get that,” she said softly. “My brother just learned to cook on the grill outside, and he makes the blandest and driest burgers ever. It doesn’t matter how much ketchup, mustard or pickles I drown it in, it’s still just so… blah,” she chuckled a little. “But he likes it, and it’s kinda like… I can’t bring myself to tell him how to fix it, he’s just so proud of himself.”

Sans chuckled a little, tears starting to flow as he did. “yeah, that’s paps and pasta. but his teacher is arguably worse than he is. he was learning from undyne, captain of the guard. it was his “special training” so he would feel more included… we were trying to keep him from the guard. he’s strong, but he’s just…”

“To naïve?”

“yeah, pretty much,” Sans said as he leaned into her a bit more, burying his face once again in her shirt. “it’s what got him killed,” he started to tremble. “he thought all the kid needed was someone to believe in them, that he could talk them out of it… that all they needed,” he began to violently shake and sob, “was a friend… he wouldn’t… he wouldn’t listen to me!”

Sans felt her arms squeeze tightly around him, once again trying to hold him together. He wrapped his arms around her once again, squeezing in return. “It was a noble thought all the same. And if it wasn’t for the sociopathic child… his line of reasoning wouldn’t be too bad with most humans,” she tried softly.

“i don’t really care,” he muttered, gripping her tighter. “he’s gone… nothing else matters…”

“Of course other things matter,” she declared, gently stroking his skull. “You matter, Sans. I know it’s painful, but it does get easier with time. And don’t think you’re not allowed to feel this grief either. Your brother was murdered, you’re allowed to be angry. You’re allowed to break down,” she gently pulled him back so he could look up at her, tears in her own eyes as well, “because sometimes, when we lose someone who was our main support, we have to rebuild ourselves to learn to live without them.”

Blackened sockets looked up into tear-filled blue eyes and Sans felt himself begin to break. It wasn’t just the points that he couldn’t control, as he looked up at her, he felt all hesitation to hold back leave him. Her permission wasn’t needed, but hearing it aloud seemed to reassure him that she wouldn’t think less of him for doing so. Why he thought that was beyond him, maybe some stupid thing he told himself so he wouldn’t just break down in front of anyone… but now…

Sans broke. Everything in him just shattered. Papyrus was gone, and he was truly letting himself feel that now. It wasn’t just a broken realization. He was letting it sink in. He would never hear his laugh, hear him scream about his puns, hear him call him lazy, yell at him to pick up his socks… he would never hear the words of encouragement that kept him going. He always knew what he needed, even before he did most of the time. He didn’t have his support, the person he trusted more than anyone to just… let everything out with. Yes, he kept him out of the resets because there was no point in stressing him out over it. Nothing he did ever changed it… he didn’t want to burden Papyrus with the same depression that had started eating at him. The same depression that Papyrus’ usual personality seemed to make disappear when he was around.

How he still had tears was beyond him, but they continued to flow. Somewhere, he felt bad that he was soaking Jewel’s shirt when she had no change of clothes with her, that he was squeezing her with what strength he had in his tired bones. But she didn’t once move him. Instead, he could feel dampness on his skull. She was crying with him. Whether it was from her own circumstances or she related, or whatever it was… it helped. He didn’t know why, but it helped. He squeezed her tighter than he had before. He knew somewhere in the back of his skull she had to be hurting, that he might be hurting her… that the tears might be from that… but until she said something, he wasn’t going to stop.

He didn’t know how long it had been, but he was almost out. He finally lost the tears, he finally lost most of his strength… all he wanted to do was sleep… but he didn’t let her go. He was still in that awkward position, both is arms and legs wrapped around her torso as she sat on the bed, shoulders against the wall, his arms just barely underneath where she met the cold stone. He was almost asleep, his breathing finally evening out. He felt her move, trying to gently move his arms.

He protested, actively fighting her as he grabbed her tighter. “no,” he muttered, brokenly, exhaustion evident, “don’t go…”

Jewel was utterly confused, taken aback by how he clung to her. She thought he had been asleep, but he was still conscious enough to speak his mind. Yes, they had technically slept in the hall like this previously… was he going to make this a habit? She couldn’t deny she had wished she had someone when she was in episodes like this, but she had to deal with crying into her pillow… she didn’t know how to react to this. It felt awkward, they barely knew one another… but she couldn’t deny how she worried about him. Irrational as it was, there was… familiarity with the skeleton now. He was the only one she really knew down here and he wasn’t so bad…

She was tired too, and she wasn’t about to argue with him. So instead, she held him close, essentially picking him up with her. He protested, whining against her, but he stopped when he realized she was just laying down. She made herself comfortable, laying on her side, and moving his leg out from underneath her. She moved the pillow between them both, using the top for herself with her arm underneath it and letting him rest his head on the bottom of it, while still against her. She leaned down a bit, her chin against the top of his skull. Sans pulled himself closer to her, wrapping his arms tighter around her as he straightened his back and torso, his legs just kind of falling where they may on the bed, partially intertwined with hers. He was too tired to think about anything else. He just needed to cling to her… and sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Muffled music began playing between Jewel’s hip and the mattress, but it wasn’t the sound that woke her. She groaned and moved just enough to hit the button on her phone to put the ringer on snooze. What time was it, she wondered. She wouldn’t know without looking at her phone, and to do that would require moving… That sounded like a pain. She whined a little as she just wanted to sleep more, going to curl into the pillow before she remembered her sleeping companion from the night before.

Glancing down at the skeleton that still lightly clung to her in his slumber she realized his arms were still around her. Instead of gripping her as he had last night, one arm was hanging over her side while the other laid flat against the mattress. His face was still nuzzled into her shoulder though he moved a bit, his nose and mouth more exposed as if to breathe. That was an anatomy question, did he actually breathe? She couldn’t remember if he had breath clouds when they were in the snow… she wasn’t really focused on that particular fact.

But as much as her curiosity wanted answers… she really had to pee.

Her focus went back to the skeleton as she was about to move from his grasp. She noticed the tear stains on his face, despite how long ago it was… she couldn’t imagine the amount of pain he was feeling… and she felt bad but she had to get up. She started with the arm draping over her. As she moved it, he didn’t stir. He seemed to be out cold… She carefully moved from his side, draping the blankets over him, as they had fallen asleep without them, to try and keep him warm.

Getting off the bed, she went to do her business in the bathroom. As she exited, she went back over to the bed, noticing Sans had not yet awakened. That was good, the poor guy needed to rest after everything. He hadn’t eaten in a month, she could imagine him not allowing himself much sleep. She sat there for a moment on the edge of the bed, just watching him. She pulled out her phone, making sure to silence it. She just remembered she had only snoozed it before, and she didn’t want to wake him. That’s when she noticed the time. Her alarm was still set for six. It was six in the morning? She had adjusted her phone for the time zone each time she crossed over. They were up really late… no wonder Sans was still out cold. Only she could sleep for a few hours and wake up this easily… of course, she just wanted to go back to sleep but maybe she should take the opportunity to clean up a little…

He would be okay without her for a bit, right? Why was that thought what was ringing through her mind? She had barely slept, he would be asleep for a while longer no doubt… with how little he slept, his body would have to be protesting, even with how long they slept the night before last…

Still, she gently stroked his skull, glancing back down at the skeleton. “I won’t be gone long, Sans, promise,” she said softly before rising. Her footfalls were soft and almost completely silent as she walked to the door effortlessly and softly shut it behind her.

Her plan was simple. She was going to go back to the Judgment Hall to pick up her bag. Her hoodie was all she had to change into, and despite everything else, at least a shirt without blood and holes would be good. Even if it was even warmer than what she was wearing now. At least it wasn’t too hot inside compared to going out of the building.

What was her living situation going to be like now? This was her second day in the Underground… how long would she be here before Asgore realized that Sans was blowing magic smoke in his face? How long until her soul was taken? How long would she have to try and make Sans stable enough to handle life without someone to lean on?

Her soul churned with her heart in her chest. She could feel the water in her eyes building and she quickly tried to put the thought out of her mind. It was her default mode, she supposed. She couldn’t fix her situation, so she instinctively tried to fix everyone else’s. No one should have to suffer like she did… but she knew it wasn’t realistic either. All-in-all, her situation wasn’t too bad. She was just tired of fighting in it. She had options… for some of her problems. She just didn’t have it in her to fight anymore… but for some reason, she was willing to fight for Sans.

It wasn’t like he was putting his problems on her. At least not yet. He was just grieving and while he was trying to push through, he was struggling. Breaking down was understandable and he wasn’t imposing anything on her to just want her comfort. He wasn’t expecting her to do something impossible and fix it. He just wanted someone to cry to.

“And lots of hugs apparently,” she smiled a little as she softly spoke to herself, “How much has he kept to himself?”

It was then she remembered that he mentioned that no one else remembered the resets. Not in true fashion anyway. Truly, how much did he suffer alone?

It was something she could talk to him about when he was awake, and perhaps, a bit more stable. She was almost to the Judgement Hall where her things were. What she needed to do was focus on cleaning up… She was going to have to ask Sans or Alphys to change the bandage on her back now that she thought about it… She ran a hand through her hair, trying to keep her thoughts on what she needed to do first. Bag, hoodie, that stuff. She could worry about the rest later…

The sound of a door creaking open caught her attention. She could hear soft mutterings and the person did not sound thrilled. Tilting her head in curiosity, she walked closer to investigate.

She hid behind a pillar as saw a tiny flame elemental with her bag, dragging it along the floor. It was half the size of Sans, maybe just over two foot six? The little flame looked disgruntled, muttering to itself.

“I can’t believe, Asgore,” the voice muttered, sounding more masculine, “After all that’s happened, to let a human stay here?? Is he insane?? And to send me to give them their stuff??” He turned, glaring at the bag he was dragging. He hadn’t noticed the blood, nor did he care if he did. Still, his anger started to sizzle out into fear. “I hope they’re not around… If I can just find Sans, I’ll give it to him and avoid this whole thing!”

As he turned his head, just about passing the pillar the human was standing behind, tiny eyes grew wide. It took him far longer than he would ever admit to process what he was seeing. He didn’t know what a deer in headlights looked like, nor did he know the saying, but that was exactly what he was right now.

“Uh… hi?” Jewel tried as she looked down at the tiny flame. It was hard to feel like she wasn’t intimidating the poor thing. “Listen, uh, thanks for grabbing my bag, I’ll just…”

As she was about to offer to take it and let him go on home, the small ember flared up. It wasn’t a massive growth in height, but the flickering flames did give off the warning loud and clear. Fuel to the fire was never good, especially in an elemental.

“H-hey now,” she started but was cut off by small bursts of flame being wind-milled from his hands in her direction. It was like a little kid on a playground in their first-ever fight.

The flames themselves weren’t very powerful, but they were still fire. She managed to protect her face by raising her arms, only for the embers to bounce off. However, just like with anything else, enough heat applied causes it to ignite, which is what happened to her shirt. Jewel ducked behind the pillar, using it as cover, as she tried to put out the flame on her arm. Much to her dismay, however, she was unable to extinguish the flames. It was a magical fire, after all, normal rules didn’t always apply to magical things. Still, it scared her all the same as she could feel the burns she was getting on her arm.

As panic started to take her, desperately trying to rip the cloth of her shirt to try and remove the burning sleeve, a large paw came down and smother the flames instantly. Shaking, she looked up at Asgore, and those chocolate eyes looked down at her worriedly. But, as much as he was concerned for her, he had to stop the threat first.

“Flamesman!” Asgore bellowed. He wasn’t yelling, but that authoritative kingly voice he had perfected over centuries.

The tiny flame gasped, his eyes still wide, and he quickly began to panic. “No! No nononnono! Don’t say my name!”

Curious and confused, the large king couldn’t help the small tilt of his head as he stared quizzically at the tiny flame. He had been so overjoyed when he, the king, remembered who he was. “But—”

“No! The human can’t remember me, nonononononono!”

The king watched as the tiny flames grew larger with his panic. The king walked over and his giant paw came down, a single finger resting on his shoulder while the rest of his paw basically rested along his side. The ember looked up at the king, his eyes still wide.

“Calm down. The human isn’t going to harm you.”

A shaky breath escaped the small flame. Right, the king was here. The human had no chance against the king, right? Despite not being flame elementals, the King and Queen’s mastery over the element was exceptional. Very few could ever match them. However, the Queen had long been gone, so no one could touch the King’s fire magic now.

“You can’t know,” Heats Flamesman spoke up, “She’s human! She could be lying!”

His gaze tightened. “She very much could be. But she has given no inclination that she has been. She has been nothing but cordial.”

“It’s an act! The last human—!”

“I know you don’t have a good opinion of them,” the two monsters turned their head to the human who came out from behind the pillar. “And I don’t blame you for being uneasy. And the fact it was a _child_ …” Jewel couldn’t think of the words to describe the feeling in her chest, how to empathize with this small monster. “I wasn’t… I was just coming to grab my stuff. I shouldn’t have left it here in the first place, and I’m sorry I scared you… I just…”

Asgore sighed softly as he turned from the human back down to his subject. “I understand your concern. But she is currently my guest. She should not be without her escort, however,” he directed, scolding the human, “but it is my job to render punishment for those things, not yours.”

“I… I wasn’t…” Heats began to fumble.

“It… It’s okay, your majesty,” Jewel spoke up, deciding formality the best course with the small ember still on edge. “Don’t be too harsh with him, he was just scared. It’s an understandable reaction.”

Asgore turned to the young monster. “Since she is here, I suppose you do not need to fulfill your errand. You are free to go home.”

“Y-yes sir,” the tiny flame spoke, quickly taking advantage of the situation and running off.

Jewel rubbed her upper arm a little, nervously. “Um… s-sorry…”

“You really should be with Sans,” Asgore scolded harshly, his eyes narrowing at the human woman. “Why has he suddenly decided to let you—”

“First off,” Jewel tightened her gaze, interrupting the king with no hesitation in her voice, “You never once said I was under restrictions! I understand the whole thing, but don’t punish me for simply walking off when you never said I had to be accompanied by anyone! Two, if I am supposed to be under these restrictions, it was highly inappropriate of you to assign your fatigued judge to do it! You really expect him to be able to keep up with everything he’s gone through recently?! And three, don’t you dare blame Sans for any of this! He’s _asleep!_ As he should be!”

Asgore blinked, chocolate eyes widening a little at her sudden boldness. His mind was screaming at him to be careful. She wasn’t the docile thing that was ready to die in this moment. “My kingdom has been ravaged just recently by a member of your race. If you cannot--!”

“I get the implications! Why do you think I’m here so early?” Jewel defended herself before pulling back a little. “Sans was exhausted, I didn’t want to wake him for this simply so I could clean up…”

Tense shoulders slowly relaxed themselves with a soft exhale of breath. The king couldn’t fault her for that. She was right, Sans was exhausted. It wasn’t right of him to put Sans in charge of her, but it was the skeleton’s idea. He supposed he should be grateful that she was so concerned over his judge… was that the reason she got riled up in the first place? When it came to herself, she still seemed… deflated. He might have to check-in on her more…

“I suppose I can understand that,” he softened his tone. “You have been here for a couple of days,” and her clothes were in tatters… nothing unrepairable, but without something to change into… “I will discuss with Sans later about getting you a small wardrobe during your stay here. Hopefully, his little project won’t take too long.”

Jewel bit the inside of her cheek at his comment about the project… they had barely worked on it… “Maybe… he… hasn’t really told me much about it,” she admitted softly. “Though he wants me to undo what the last human did and I… well, he won’t even tell me what they did. I… think it’s painful for him…”

Asgore watched her for a moment, studying the genuine concern in her eyes to make sure it was truly there. He took a breath. “It’s painful for us all… though I suppose it would be more so for him…”

The king crouched down to pick up her bag before handing it to her. “Because he remembers the resets?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said softly. He had told her that much it seemed… “He has lived through this more than the rest of us. While we have all experienced it, we do not remember it, not as he does. I have taken to noticing when the world has reset with his help, and I remember more than most. However, it is not as clear as I would like it.”

“It’s like déjà vu, right?” she interjected her question. “Can you tell me what you do know? It might help if I knew what I was supposed to undo.”

The goat king sighed heavily. “There is not much I can tell you, even if I trusted you to do so. The child has murdered us countless times over. Sans is the one who knows the specifics.”

Jewel looked into his eyes as he avoided her gaze. He was hiding something, she knew it. Was it really her place to press, however? “Sans fights the child in the hall,” she started to reason, “You’re clearly waiting for them after him. Even with me…” Her gaze turned a little harsher as she looked at him, “You remember what this child does, even if it’s vague. Yet you still wait for Sans to continuously fight them and let him _die_ each and every time before they get to you? What kind of king does that?”

Fur bristled on his neck as he tried to contain the anger starting to build at this human’s boldness. She knew nothing of what was going on and continued to berate and question his actions. “That is his duty as my subject!” he barked at her, “To protect his King! Without me, there would be no one to lead those left!”

“Pretty damn sure Sans could do it better than you,” she retorted, hissing.

“How dare—”

“Pretty sure anyone could, really,” she continued, not caring about the threatening look in the king’s eyes. “Anyone else could see what you’ve already spelled out and ignored. That Sans is the only one who remembers the damn resets, he shouldn’t be fucking sacrificing himself for anyone! Damn it, you’re relying on him to fix it all now!” she growled, causing the fur on the king’s neck and shoulders to rise up.

“What are you insinuating?!” he roared.

“That you’re too damn afraid to do what needs to be done! When I first came here, Sans said he worked for the head scientist or whatever! You don’t put the brains of the operation on the front line, dude! Basic strat 101! You want the brains, the healer, whoever can undo the mess your fighters cause if they fail in the back and dead fucking last so they can repair everything! Instead of having him focus on fighting this damn kid, you should be buying him time to fix everything!”

“He’s had plenty of time! The resets—”

“Are a god damn torture and blessing at the same time!” she snipped. “You can undo everything, but you have to go through the same torture—well, Sans does! All the more reason to spare him having to deal with it! Really, dude…” Her fire started to die down as she looked up at him, disappointment clearly the emotion behind her eyes, “I get it’s hard. But god damn, man… what if this last bit happened after Sans lost? What if you were the one who killed the kid and the resets stopped? He was the one who had this damn idea to fix it all. Where would you be then? You wouldn’t have even had me, Sans was the one who pulled me through. You’d be stuck.”

As angry as Asgore wanted to be, the last words struck him harder than he would ever admit. It was hard enough now… but to try and move on without Sans by his side… His judge had been all that had kept him calm enough to pretend to rule everything as if nothing had happened, to protect the other monsters. The reason he could pretend everything was all right every time the child had reset.

“It was Sans’ idea,” the king spoke, firm, but it was obvious her words had struck something deep inside of him. For better or worse, he did not know.

“Of course it was,” Jewel sighed. She didn’t know him that long, but damn it, he seemed to put everything on his shoulders… “But as his king…”

“I know,” Asgore sighed. “I suppose I am rather lucky that things played out as they have… given the alternative you have just proposed…”

“Heh, sorry, I’m a bit of a downer with these things. Finding what could be worse is kind of a habit of mine…”

She had criticized him, belittled his decision-making skills, and essentially called him incompetent… If she was one of his subjects that would be tantamount to treason… but even then, he wouldn’t be so harsh on his own subjects, especially in such a difficult time. This human, however… she wasn’t one of his people. She was an intruder, though not of her own making. It seemed, however, she was very much attached to his judge… all of her anger seemed directed on his behalf. And even with all the accusations… he couldn’t get the image of their first meeting out of his head. Seeing her broken and ready to die by his own hand as if it would provide some meaning in her life…

“It seems you have found some spark of fire in your soul,” Asgore finally spoke, his voice calmer as he forced down his anger. He too could lash out in anger, but what would that prove at this point? He needed her alive to fix what the child had done, he could play the waiting game. Besides… even he could tell she wasn’t a malicious person.

“Ha… I don’t know about that…” she rubbed her arm before flinching a little.

Asgore eyed the burn on her arm. It hadn’t looked too severe when he initially put it out, but despite raising a human once upon a time, he admittedly wasn’t too familiar with every aspect of their biology… did humans normally have minor wounds that turned into more severe ones?

“Would you like me to treat that?” he then offered.

“I’ll be fine,” Jewel spoke softly, pulling her arm in closer.

A soft sigh escaped the goat’s mouth as he took a step toward her. “Please, allow me this kindness. Despite your recent boldness, insulting the king of the place you find yourself in—”

“Yeah, not my smartest move…” Jewel muttered, causing the king a soft chuckle.

“Very true, but I can tell it’s been in defense of Sans. You only seem to get angry when it comes to him as of yet. Perhaps you can tell me why as I get some medicine for your arm.”

The human sighed a little. She really should, she was in enough pain… some burn cream would be awesome, if they even had that down here… “You sure you have something that would work? Sans didn’t seem too sure how to help me before.”

“Sans has never truly spent time with humans aside the one who attacks us. And admittedly… killing them doesn’t…”

“No, I get it. As hard as it is to comprehend, a child killer is still a killer, and you have a right to defend yourself. But, yeah… killing a human is a lot easier than putting one back together.” However, the way he said it… “Does that mean you have?”

A very tired, very strained smile was on the king’s face. “I have… though I would appreciate your lack of questioning into the matter. It is…”

“No, it’s okay,” Jewel spoke up softly, interrupting. “I get not wanting to talk… but… do you know enough to treat a burn? It seems like humans and monsters are pretty different, physically speaking…”

Silently, the human followed the King’s lead, as he took her behind the doors she had seen in the hall, leading down past the throne room.

\----

Cold… why was it cold? Snow falling… it wasn’t this bad before… bones trembled as pink slippers crunched through the white powder, heading toward… No… No… The snow turned darker, mixing with dust and red… Papyrus’s scarf flew past him, just missing it through his fingers… glancing back, he saw a sickening smile with glowing red eyes…

“AAaaah!”

Sans shot up, magic flaring in his eye, blaster at the ready. But this wasn’t Snowdin…  
  
He panted as he took in the room, coming back to his senses… then he remembered…  
  
“shit, jewel, i’m--!”   
  
As he whipped his head around, assuming he had scared the living hell out of his sleeping companion, he found himself alone… It should have been a relief. He could have hurt her, scared her in this state… but instead, his chest hurt.

Betrayal… abandonment… He had begged her to not leave him the night before… and here she was… or rather… not. He shook as his hands found their way to his skull. He rubbed his eye, trying to snuff out his magic, but he couldn’t. Even after the blaster was recalled, even with how little magic he had regenerated, he just couldn’t put it out… His soul churned and twisted in his chest.

He wasn’t sure how long he was left there, alone like that, his thoughts spiraling out of his control. When he heard the door click, however, that blazing eye focused entirely on the person who entered… It was her, the one who left him alone. Just walking in like she hadn’t abandoned him.

“Sans?” he heard her call out, “What are you doing up?”  
  
She expected him to sleep through and just pretend she never left him? His bones rattled, shaking with anger and pain. He didn’t even understand why this hurt so much, it just did. As he heard her footsteps come closer, he lashed out, teleporting off the bed and grabbing her arms, pushing her against the wall, causing her to drop her bag, his eye burning brighter.  
  
“you left me alone!” he yelled at her, pinning her by her arms to the wall. “you promised you wouldn’t go! but you left me!!”

“Sans, I’m sorry, I just went to grab my things.”

He hadn’t seen or heard it drop… but the bag was there at his feet. His foot slid into it as he moved to get a better grip. His breathing started to calm down… she left to get… all she had down here… Still, he shook… despite it, and the logic behind it… it still hurt so much to wake up like that, alone…

“S-sans…” he heard her whimper.

He glanced back up, seeing the tears in her eyes. Was he scaring her? That was the last thing he wanted… his soul twisted in his ribs and his grip started to ease…but that’s when he felt the bandages… the minor amount of heat he could feel with his desensitized bones…

In an instant, what little that blaze in his eye went down, was more fierce than ever. “what happened?” he demanded.

“Nothing, it’s okay.”

“this is not okay! who hurt you?!” he roared out, looking up at her. His hand started to shake as he had to focus on not squeezing her. “was it asgore?!” he demanded. He used fire magic, she was out without him… did he try something?  
  
“Sssh,” she tried, pulling her arms from him and up to his face. While one hand gently caressed his jaw, her right went over his eyesocket, trying to smother the magical flame of his eye. “No, it was nothing like that, Sans. It was an accident, and Asgore was the one who treated it. I’m fine, I promise.”

“no you’re not… you’re hurt,” he whined a little as he leaned into her hand.

“I was hurt to begin with, remember? You threw me through a window.”

He really started to rattle at that reminder. He had hurt her… He couldn’t even think of an excuse… he thought she was Frisk, he was going to hurt her when he did it…

“i’m sorry…”

“Sans… are you all right? You’re acting… weird, even for you.”

“heh, we haven’t known each other for very long, buddy… how would…” He couldn’t even finish the sentence as she rubbed his burning socket with her thumb. He couldn’t explain how comforting that felt… and it eased him down a little.

“You’ve literally been attached to me my entire time here. I think I got to know at least a little bit about you by now. At least general behavior.”

“nothing really “general” about all of this right now… none of this is normal…”

“You want to talk about it?” she offered.

Sans hesitated, leaning into her hands more. “i don’t… i don’t know how to describe it…”

“Well, let’s start with what you’re doing up,” she suggested, motioning back to the bed. “You only went to sleep a few hours ago, I didn’t expect you to be up so soon with how tired you are.”

“it’s… only bee a couple of hours?”

“I know, right? Only a couple of boneheads like us could wake up with a short nap when we need to sleep for at least a day.”

Sans couldn’t help the weak laugh that escaped him. He leaned more into her right hand, feeling the fire in his eye slowly burning out with her cool touch.

“i want you to tell me what happened,” he tried to redirect. As much as he did want to talk about what he was feeling… he wanted to know who to hunt down.  
  
“Come on, let’s go sit on the bed,” she coaxed him, leading him to sit on the side of the bed once again. “Promise me you won’t do anything. It really was an accident.”  
  
“heh, i’ll be the _judge_ of that,” he joked, already missing the feel of her touching his cheekbones… they had just sat down… “c’mon buddy, tell me what happened.”

Jewel shrugged a little bit. “Well, I had to pee,” she teased, sticking out her tongue a little, explaining why she had got up originally in the first place, “and I thought that… well, since I couldn’t sleep, I could clean up a little. But all my stuff was out in the Hall.”  
  
“so you went to get it,” Sans finished the sentence, and scenario, feeling like a real ass for how he reacted. His soul still churned in his chest, and he gripped at his shirt, a slightly blue tint to his cheeks. He didn’t know what he was going to do… he just… hurt so much… he wanted to make her realize what she had done, he thought… and that scared him. She hadn’t done anything wrong…  
  
“Sans?”

The skeleton looked up, that blue getting a little darker on his cheeks. “s-sorry, i… what happened after that? how’d you get hurt?”

“Asgore was apparently asking a small monster to bring you my stuff. He freaked out when he saw me and just started lashing out. He was a flame elemental. He didn’t mean it, Sans. And Asgore did threaten him already for the action, he doesn’t need to be tormented any further.”

He could relate to that more than he cared to admit… technically he did something similar to her already… Speaking of…

“i should really change your bandages, now that i think about it,” Sans spoke up, deciding to ignore the fact that she had been hurt by someone else for the time being. Accident or not, he couldn’t be trusted at the moment… he just wanted to hurt them for hurting her… and that wasn’t like him at all. What was going on with him?

“It’s okay, Sans, it won’t hurt to let it go a little longer.”

“i don’t think i can sleep again right now… you said you wanted to clean up. can you even do that with how you’re hurt?”

“Uh… not a normal shower or anything no…” Jewel fidgeted. “I’ll wash out anything that’s keeping me from bleeding… it’s too soon, especially for the wound in my back… I was just… gonna use a wash cloth and try and clean up some dirt and blood.”

Sans decided to take a long, hard look at her. For the first time, he had a serious look on his face as he contemplated something he wasn’t sure he ever would have otherwise. Having a mathematical mind was helpful, sometimes.

“wait here, i’ll be right back.”

It wasn’t like she could really go anywhere, but it surprised her when Sans teleported out of the room without any explanation. She blinked, feeling the touch of magic on her hands. It was… different than what she felt with his eye. When trying to smother the flame, it was warm, and it felt like putting her hand near a candle. She could feel the warmth, it rising and meeting her hand, but it didn’t burn. This, however, felt like a bit of an electric shock, but not unpleasant. It still left a tingling sensation, but like with the fire, it was… nice.

It took a couple of minutes, but Sans returned, teleporting back in with a stumble, clothes in his arms.

“Sans!” Jewel quickly grabbed the skeleton as his leg buckled under him. “Do you even have enough magic to keep doing this kind of thing?” she asked worriedly.  
  
“heh, probably not,” he muttered softly. He didn’t want to admit too much, but that took more out of him than he thought… magically and emotionally. So as she held him, he took a minute to just lean into her, since she had him anyway… “i just… wanted to get you some clothes…”

Jewel glanced down to the fabric dangling in his arms. She couldn’t tell anything but the color, orange and grey, but the way he held so tightly onto it…

“Sans… you didn’t have to do that… especially… if that’s…”

“paps would’ve done it in seconds,” he softly whimpered out, his voice growing heavy. “and he’d have my skull if he knew i wasn’t going to offer…”

“Sans, it’s okay. If it’s too much, I don’t mind, I’ve got my hoodie, I can change into that.”

“nah, it’s… it’s fine…” He pulled himself from the clothes to look up at her, small tears in his sockets. “he barely wore these, they were “lazy clothes” and he was never lazy, unlike me.”

“Oh, sweetheart…” That almost broke her. Jewel leaned in, her forehead against Sans’ as she squeezed him, hugging him close.

A faint dusting of blue found its way to his cheeks as the nickname passed her lips… Despite that it was no different than him calling her “buddy”, the fact she was suddenly using a term of affection at all with him after everything he did…

“heh… paps would love you,” he murmured as he nuzzled into her shirt, taking a moment to just… be.

He could feel her smile against his skull, a warm tear falling onto the bone. She always did that, didn’t she? Cry with him… cry for him… Didn’t she ever cry for herself? Glancing down at her arm, seeing the bandages, he remembered why she had come… and how he almost helped with it. Yet, her entire time here, she had done nothing but sit with him, put up with him breaking down and be nothing but supportive… how someone with such a weight on their soul could be so uplifting…

Sans started to pull himself up, finding his footing, he took her hand. “c’mon.”

“Huh?”

“you don’t do anything for yourself, do you buddy?” he asked, already knowing the answer. “you’ve put up with me for a while now… it’s my turn.”

“What are you..?” she questioned as he started to lead her, before realizing they were heading toward the bathroom. “Sans, I can clean up on my own.”

“i need to change your bandages anyway,” he pointed out, “you said you were just going to clean the dirt and blood off, i can do it at the same time.”

Jewel blushed a little. “I g-guess,” she fumbled a little.

“what?” Sans grinned back at her, “nervous about showing a little skin?”

“Heh, maybe… depends if you’re into that kind of thing.”

Sans stopped and turned, confusion plastered on his face for a second before his face started to turn blue. "i-i’m not--! i-i mean…”

Jewel chuckled a little before putting a hand on his shoulder. “Well, at least I know it wasn’t your intention.”

Sans sighed, still blue in the face. At least she wasn’t upset. “you really think i’d do something like that? you’re hurt, that’s a little messed up.”

She was silent, and Sans worried he put his foot in his mouth. She was unreadable, and he didn’t like it… The only thing he got was that she wouldn’t look at him now, and that… hurt. What did he do?

“jewel?” He gently put a hand on her arm. “are you okay? was it something i said?”

She was still for a moment, before leaning in, pressing her forehead against his own, her nose gently brushing against his nasal bridge. She had done it before, but this time there was a spark, something shooting through him that made his soul jump. For a second, it felt like… her soul resonated with his own, syncing for a single beat.

“Sorry, old habits. I trust you, Sans. I’m just… wary, I guess. I’m used to people having underlying motives.”

He could understand that, more than he cared to admit. He was always looking for an angle… Frisk put him in such a bad headspace, he could never just take things at face value anymore… yet, wasn’t that what he was doing with Jewel? The problem was the only angle he could see from her was trying to get out… but she didn’t seem to be in any hurry… it was hard to see an ulterior motive when all she did was tend to him, help him through his grief.

“i feel that,” he muttered a little as he leaned into her touch, his own hand reaching up, hesitating. He wanted to touch her, like she had him so often… just… caress her cheek, tell her it was going to be okay… but he couldn’t. He couldn’t believe it himself yet, so how could he promise her that? He didn’t do promises… especially ones he couldn’t keep.

But he noticed the blood still in her hair, dried now, but still… all the glass he had plucked out of her head had left its mark. He closed his sockets, feeling the guilt crawling up his back, before pulling away and taking her hand instead.

“come on,” he said softly, “let’s get you cleaned up.”


End file.
